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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28610865">The Girl Who Lived; Legends Never Die</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATouchOfDepravity/pseuds/ATouchOfDepravity'>ATouchOfDepravity</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action, Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Feels, Book One, Child Abandonment, Child abuse (non-sexual), Childhood Trauma, Death, Depressing, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Draco Malfoy Bashing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, Female Harry Potter, Goblins, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Incomplete, Intrigue, Jealousy, LGBTQ Themes, Morality, Mystery, Mythical Beings &amp; Creatures, Orphanage, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Past Child Abuse, Political Alliances, Possession, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Powerful Harry Potter, References to Religion, Ron Weasley Bashing, Slow Burn, Smart Harry Potter, Studious Harry Potter, Tragic origins, Violence, WIP, Where to begin tagging this, more tags to come, slowly developing plot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:00:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>174,462</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28610865</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ATouchOfDepravity/pseuds/ATouchOfDepravity</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After being dumped from door to door in the middle of the night and passed idly from relative to relative as if she were an unopened, unwanted Christmas present with no tag and no receipt, the only daughter of the late James and Lily Potter was eventually thrust upon a poorly funded and overpopulated orphanage. Surrounded by orphaned children who loathed her for being younger and staff who lived in fear of her ominous abilities, she resigned herself to a meaningless life of misery and regret; one small, irrelevant drop in an uncaring ocean of loneliness and isolation, waiting to be washed ashore and left to silently fade away.</p><p>Well, that was until she discovered that fate wasn’t quite finished with her yet, as she received a rather strange letter one day.</p><p>“Is that...?” </p><p>She gasped with shock as she inspected the extravagant, flourished letters that swirled in beautiful loops across the front of the perfectly sealed envelope that she held within her small, delicate and suddenly trembling hands.</p><p>“... is that my name?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermione Granger/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>216</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>637</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fanfics Harry Potter não concluidas</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Girl Who Lived</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>James and Lily Potter had a beautiful baby girl and this is her story. It is a tale of lost-identity and the journey taken to recover her own sense of self-worth. This is a story that has been formed from the shattered pieces of my own childhood, combined with the fantasy world that I would always lose myself in when times got tough; the world of Harry Potter. This is a story that I have always wanted to write as an expression of myself, yet feared to put out as my fragile sense of self-worth would be put to the test. This is a story that I am writing about myself in many ways, and about the person that I wish to become in many others. This is a story that explores the darkest places of the mind and what happens when you have your identity stripped away from you. Ultimately, this is a story that I hope you enjoy, but that I will completely understand if you don't. </p><p>As always, the world of Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, not me. I just play in it sometimes.</p><p>Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts! It's great motivation for me to continue and I enjoy reading them, only please don't be 'too' harsh if you didn't like it; this is only a hobby after all.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a turbulent period in history when James and Lily Potter had their first and only child, and some might have argued that it was rather irresponsible to bring a child into a world that was being ravaged by war. Some would quietly claim that they should have waited until after the fall of the Dark Lord who was, at the time, doing his utmost to destroy every pillar and foundation of magical society in an attempt to plunge the entire world into chaos and anarchy. There were even a few whispered comments from their closest friends that the two were being quite selfish and that they should have thought of what would happen to the child if they were to be killed or incapacitated, given that they had repeatedly opposed the Dark Lord already and were currently sitting at both the number one and two spots on his list of eye-twitching annoyances. They never did quite find out which one of them was actually at number one in the end, however they debated about it frequently and James especially enjoyed creating a playful competition for the coveted (or for those who were sane; feared) spot at the top of the Dark Lord’s kill list. They were Gryffindors after all; they didn’t spend seven years in the ‘House of the Courageous’ at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry without learning a thing or two about reckless and brash behaviour. When they had learned of Lily’s pregnancy however, the couple were forced to abandoned their guerrilla warfare tactics and bold battles with Death Eaters, focusing instead on keeping Lily, and their child, out of harms way. It was difficult for both of them to do, however James especially found his wand-hand itching whenever he read the ever-darkening news of the magical world. It took more than a few words of comfort and reassurance from his wife to keep him from charging off into the frontlines once again and it was merely the knowledge that he needed to protect his child, who was peacefully growing inside of his beloved wife, that caused him to keep his feet planted within their charming little cottage.</p>
<p>Despite what may have been said about the two young adults and their boldness (or perhaps recklessness), one thing that was never even remotely considered by any who knew the couple was the idea of their child growing up in an unloving or uncaring home. James and Lily had already begun to lavishly pile love and affection upon the future heir (or heiress) to the Potter line while still in the womb; before Lily was even six months into her pregnancy, the child had a spot reserved and paid for at Hogwarts and James had already excitedly begun preparing his quidditch lessons and training regime, while Lily would lovingly caress her growing belly with fondness and excitement. The magical world may have been in a state of civil war, and the Potters placed deep in hiding from it, however that didn’t stop the couple from dreaming of the world they had been fighting for and eagerly planning exactly how their child was going to grow up when the Dark Lord was defeated.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the Dark Lord wasn’t defeated before the birth of their child, as they had hoped, yet they were still in awe of the life that they had created regardless. They had realised prior to their child’s birth that it would be a home delivery, conducted in secret away from the eyes and ears of the Dark Lord’s spies, and they were protected by some of the most powerful charms that the magical world had ever seen, courtesy of Albus Dumbledore. Now that the Potters were in hiding to protect their child, the aging (though powerful) headmaster of Hogwarts was the only other living thing standing between the Dark Lord and his domination. Dumbledore was far more powerful in magical ability than the Dark Lord was and everyone knew it, yet it was also well known that he was getting older, slower and frailer. The Dark Lord had all the time in the world and he knew it, while Dumbledore was sitting squarely on a ticking clock that reminded him constantly of his own mortality. With a surprising sense of patience, the Dark Lord had managed to avoid Dumbledore entirely during the war and instead used his followers to strike at places of importance before retreating from the battle when a fatigued Dumbledore would arrive. The Dark Lord may not have been able to best Dumbledore in a duel, but with how he played the battlefield; he didn’t have to. Where once James and Lily would show up to heroically save the day and best the Dark Lord’s elite, now it was up to Dumbledore to be everywhere at once and he simply could not be. With one side having far superior numbers and complete control of the board, it was an inevitability that either through time or strategy, the Dark Lord would eventually win out in their little game for control of society. James knew this and he crumpled newspaper after newspaper in his hands; day after day, week after week.</p>
<p>On the eve of the 31st of July 1980, inside their cosy little cottage with a medi-witch who had been sworn to secrecy, Lily and James held their newborn daughter and cried tears of joy.</p>
<p>“You are the brightest star in this; the darkest of nights,” Lily whispered through her fatigue to her daughter as she cradled the newborn child in her arms, “I love you so much.”</p>
<p>James simply stared down at his daughter and felt a pure, unequivocal desire to protect this child from anything and anyone that would seek to harm her. He had never felt anything like it; he knew that he loved Lily and he knew that he loved his friends, but as he stared down into the small, delicate, beautiful face before him, he realised that he hadn’t truly known what love actually was until now.</p>
<p>A year passed by before their eyes as their daughter rapidly grew, to their immense pride and joy. She advanced faster than they had expected; magical children tended to mature at a much faster rate than non-magical children however their daughter was something else entirely, even by magical standards. She was clearly intelligent and creative, even at her very young age, which caused no shortage of pride from James who puffed every time she demonstrated any kind of creative thinking.</p>
<p>On the 31st of October, the two were alerted that the protective wards on their cottage had finally failed as the Dark Lord comfortably strolled through the barrier, courtesy of a certain friend of theirs who had enabled his entrance. Neither James nor Lily knew why the Dark Lord had suddenly been able to walk right into their front yard, despite not having been able to find them for over a year, however they didn’t exactly have time to question it.</p>
<p>“He’s here!” James cried out to Lily from the front door as Lily scrambled to her feet in the living room, “take her and go! I’ll hold him off!”</p>
<p>Lily turned and ran for the upstairs bedroom with fear pounding in her heart, stumbling slightly over the first few steps as she went. She reached the landing at the top of the stairs and burst into their daughters room, startling the girl who had been sleeping rather peacefully. The sounds of loud explosions and unsettling crackles in the air echoed up the stairs and brightly coloured flashes of light illuminated the entire house like terrifying bursts of lightning in a raging storm. The sound of the fighting didn’t terrify Lily however, nor did the flashing lights. What terrified Lily was the sudden cessation of noise as the sounds and lights stopped almost as soon as they had begun.</p>
<p>“No…” she gasped out as she looked back to the bedroom door, knowing within her heart that James would have never stopped fighting, not while he still had a single breath in his body left. She knew what that meant, even as she denied it vehemently to herself.</p>
<p>The floorboards outside of the bedroom creaked slightly and Lily knew that she would not be able to make it out in time, not through the doors. She placed a hand on her daughters arm and closed her eyes, however she realised that there was an anti-apparation ward around the house, preventing her escape. The sound of footsteps behind her let her know that her time was up and she simply turned to her daughter in her crib, who seemed quite aware that something was not right. Lily smiled fondly at the unusually intelligent girl, even as a single tear spilled from her eyes.</p>
<p>“You’ve always been so smart,” Lily whispered as she stroked her daughters cheek, gazing down into the emerald green eyes that were so similar to her own, “you are so clever. Now I need you to be brave too. I need you to be strong.”</p>
<p>A noise behind her alerted Lily to the fact that she was no longer alone in the room and with one last squeeze of her daughters cheek, she stood to her full height, turning slowly to face her husband’s killer.</p>
<p>“You will never win,” she said simply to the cloaked figure that towered over her within the colourful and warm bedroom. The dark and imposing presence was starkly out of place within the childish and slightly silly environment that had little moving snitches painted on the wall and brightly coloured books in all directions. Lily took one last look around the place that she had so lovingly crafted with James over the last year; this room was the home of everything that they valued, and not a penny was stored within it.</p>
<p>“You will meet your end. If not by my hand, then by the hand of another,” she said flatly.</p>
<p>“There is no end,” the cloaked figure said coldly, “for I am legendary, and legends never die.”</p>
<p>“You aren’t a legend,” Lily said with a humourless laugh as she stared into the bright scarlet eyes before her, “you are a ghost that is still walking among the living. You are already dead, you just don’t know it. But you will.”</p>
<p>The cloaked figure responded only with two words and upon completion of those words, Lily Potter lay crumpled in front of her daughters crib. She let out one final breath as the world was stripped of one the greatest witches that it would ever hold, and one of the greatest mothers that it would never know. She departed the world to find her husband in the great beyond, leaving behind a confused girl who simply stood in her crib, holding onto the small side rails to support her wobbly legs.</p>
<p>The cloaked figured peered down at the child in the crib who stared back with wide, innocent eyes.</p>
<p>“Nothing personal,” he said quietly to the girl, “but only I can live forever.”</p>
<p>Without hesitation, he cast the same spell that had just ended both her mother and father, pointing his long, black wand down at the child without mercy. Without compassion. Without regret. The girl raised a confused hand in his direction, opening her palm out to him at the very last moment. Was it a sign of surrender? Defiance? Perhaps even forgiveness? The Dark Lord did not know. </p>
<p>What he did know was that it was the last thing he saw before he was ripped from his body in the most painful experience of his life. He screamed and thrashed wildly as pure agony terrorised his every nerve and every sensation. It was as though hot knives were piercing his body while his skin burned from the fire of a dozen suns. He could feel his very mind being destroyed as his body crumpled and he was ejected like a virus or a plague; expelled as mere unneeded waste to be disposed of. He no longer knew where he was, nor if he was even alive or dead, as he was cast away from his former body and sent screaming out into the night. He fled in no particular direction, not even knowing how he was traveling or where he would go, simply knowing that he needed to be anywhere that this girl was not.</p>
<p>He had been a legend mere moments ago, yet in one fell swoop, he was now nothing but a ghost.</p>
<p>The child simply stared at the strange occurrences that were happening in front of her eyes. She did not know what was going on; she had been contentedly asleep and having a rather pleasant dream about strange, flying, winged balls that needed catching when all of a sudden she had been rudely awoken and now, two people lay on the ground outside of her crib, unmoving.</p>
<p>To add to her confusion, another man that she did not know entered her room a moment later; a man with long, black hair and a large, sharp nose. He looked rather funny to her, however there wasn’t anything overly amusing about the way he fell to his knees as he observed the scene and sobbed tears of raw pain and anguish. The man, weeping openly, crawled forward and cradled Lily’s body as sorrow and regret poured forth from his very soul. She could almost see the energy pouring out from him and she reached out towards him with her palm open, but once again, she was denied as the man ignored her completely. At the sound of a loud crack from outside the cottage, the man suddenly got to his feet and wrapped himself in a strange cloak, disappearing from view entirely. </p>
<p>How bizarre.</p>
<p>While her tiny mind was struggling to comprehend what was happening, another person entered her room shortly after the first man had disappeared. This man also had long, black hair and this man was also crying openly as he entered, however he did not cradle Lily’s body as the first one had, nor did he pour the same kind of energy out into the room. He simply cried over the scene for a moment until the child found herself being abruptly lifted from her crib by this strange man and she began to cry; he was unfamiliar, he stank of smoke and he had a strange beard. It was all too much for her but she could do little more than loudly complain about what was happening in the only way that she knew how. A strange rumbling that came from outside only served to confuse and overload her senses even further.</p>
<p>Her cries were ignored and she was swiftly taken outside, however she became aware of a very large man who was blocking their path through the front yard of the cottage. Broken pieces of glass and wood lined the formerly beautiful garden as the front half of the cottage had been blown outwards during the violent struggle between James and the Dark Lord, however the large man simply trampled all over it without concern, knowing that the state of the garden-bed was not his priority right now.</p>
<p>“Sirius,” he said gruffly, “I’m here on Dumbledore’s orders. Gotta take the girl back to ‘im.”</p>
<p>“Hagrid,” the man who was carrying her spoke at last, “she… she has no-one else… I’m her godfather… I promised them I would look after her…”</p>
<p>“You gotta trust Dumbledore,” Hagrid said softly, “he knows what to do with her. What do you know about lookin’ after a kid? Think about what’s best for her.”</p>
<p>The man who was carrying her, Sirius, laughed at that, and he turned the girl around in his hands to look at her for a moment.</p>
<p>“I’ll see you soon kiddo,” Sirius said with a teary laugh, “I just gotta do something important first and then I’ll be back. Promise.”</p>
<p>He reluctantly handed her over to the large man, who wrapped her in a rather fluffy blanket. It was quite warm and cosy, and the very fatigued girl found herself slowly drifting off to sleep, her right palm held open loosely with a deep, star-shaped scar displayed in the middle.</p>
<p>***********************</p>
<p>Albus Dumbledore truly believed that he was making the right decision when he left the girl on the doorstep of the Dursley residence later that evening. After spotting the very distinctive scar on the child’s hand and understanding what it meant, Dumbledore knew without a shadow of doubt that he could never again rely on the Fidelius charm to protect her. He had been reluctant to delve into any form of dark magic in the protection of the Potters and he knew now that it had cost Lily and James their lives. He knew far more about magic than most and he knew that if he had of cast the blood wards that James and Lily had both asked him about, it would have protected them against anything, even the Dark Lord Voldemort. Blood magic was dark and dangerous however, it was widely known, and rather than risk such magic he had reassured them that the Fidelius charm would protect them and keep them safe instead. He had put all of his faith entirely in the good nature of humanity, using loyalty and love as the strongest line of defense against the darkness by tying the Potters fate to that of their close friend, Peter Pettigrew. He had of course been planning on doing so with Sirius Black as the Secret Keeper, however Sirius raised a rather excellent point that he would be a clear and obvious target, while many did not even know that Pettigrew had been one of their closest friends at all.</p>
<p>He shook his head at his own foolishness as he reached down and painlessly drew a drop of blood from the sleeping child with his wand. He levitated the drop of blood through the air and placed it on the front door; sealing it in with a powerful curse that would ensure her safety, so long as she called that place home. It was entirely dark magic at its core, however as he mourned the passing of Lily and James within his mind, he realised that he must be willing to do whatever was necessarily to protect this child from any further harm. He had failed to protect her parents and he owed it to her to ensure that she, at least, got to grow up and experience a world without Voldemort, just as her parents wanted. She would grow up in an ordinary home with her non-magical relatives; she would live a normal, peaceful life until the time came for her to attend Hogwarts and when the time came, he would honour her parents reservations of her place within the hallowed castle walls.</p>
<p>He rang the doorbell and disappeared from sight, hovering only for long enough to see that the child was safely taken indoors.</p>
<p>“Do you think this is wise?” Professor McGonagall asked the headmaster, “these people are awful. I’ve been keeping an eye on them.”</p>
<p>“She is family,” he said confidently, “and besides… she is well protected within those walls; even from them. She will never have any harm befall her while in their care and they will do their utmost for her, I assure you.”</p>
<p>He was completely and utterly right; the girl was well looked after for the entirety of the time that she was with the Dursley family. They fed her, changed her, wrapped her in new blankets and gently patted her on the back, even as they drove out of town and left her with Vernon’s cousin, who was a highly successful businessman and had controlling interests in several major companies. Naturally, the man was exceeding wealthy and highly-organised so the child was clearly better off in his care than their own, when they only had Vernon’s meagre salary to look after two adults and two children with. To the Dursleys, it was objectively the right thing to do by the girl.</p>
<p>It seemed that Dumbledore was right in the end and that the Dursleys did everything in their power to give the girl a better life. Such was the twisted nature of dark magic and Dumbledore simply continued with his own life for the next ten years, blissfully unaware that James and Lily’s daughter was not, in fact, at number four, privet drive.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly Vernon’s very wealthy cousin, who had more money than he knew what to do with, had very little interest in looking after a child that was not his own. After discovering the child at the gates of his estate, he had one of his staff escort the child to the house of his sister in law, as he knew that she had miscarried last month. Unfortunately, the woman struggled to think of any way that he could have been more insensitive and so she took the baby to the first orphanage she could find, before returning home to angrily shout down the telephone at the man about the thoughtless and unwanted act.</p>
<p>So it was that the beloved daughter of the Potters was found on the doorstep of a run-down old orphanage on the outskirts of London. She was found by the Matron; an old, world-weary widow, who simply pursed her lips at having had yet another child dumped upon them. Did people not know the nightmare that was involved in attempting to leave a child like this? There was paperwork, legal proceedings, medical costs… as if she didn’t have enough trouble and children on her hands already. </p>
<p>The orphanage was one of the last of a dying breed; as legal conditions began to tighten, more and more orphanages were being shut down in place of ‘foster parenting’ or ‘care homes’. The Matron, Beatrice, was entirely on board with the program and was more than happy to give the children into the state’s care for rehousing, however, for all of the ‘lip service’ that the government gave about their dedication to putting children into loving foster homes, they were rather slow at actually taking the children off her hands or giving them anywhere else to go. It was all well and good to determine that children should be with their own loving carers by law, yet most people still wanted their own flesh and blood, not to adopt some stranger’s child and in order to house children in the ideal situation, money was required. A lot of money; a lot more money than people were actually willing to part with, even though they supported the ‘idea’.</p>
<p>She had heard it all before; people supported adoption in theory because it made them feel superior as human beings, but they just ‘didn’t want to adopt themselves’. The children were obviously damaged from abuse, or had bad genetics because their parents were clearly meth-heads, or didn’t have the right hair colour that they wanted, or the right skin colour, or eyes, or body proportions…</p>
<p>Beatrice could do little more than scoff whenever people spouted propaganda at her about modernising foster homes. She had almost two dozen children within her care of all ages and for the three that had been adopted in the last two years, she had gained six more. Seven now, including this one. She couldn’t even lie to the older children anymore and was rather brutally honest about the fact that if they were over the age of ten, they were probably not going to be adopted anymore and had best start thinking about what they were going to do when they turned eighteen. It was a horrible fate, and she was all too aware of the children’s plight, but there was little more she could do than give them a roof and whatever she could afford to give them with their measly donations and grants (that were themselves at risk of disappearing in favour of these elusive ‘care homes’ that were spoken of, yet never actually seen).</p>
<p>On the positive side, a very young child tended to be a lot easier to unload onto new parents so she had that going for her, even if it meant that it had just reduced the chances of adoption for every other child in the building. An unfortunate truth, but, a young child offered the promise of potential; you didn’t yet know whether it would be tall, or pretty, or funny. A young child offered the dazzling promise of all of those things that prospective parents desired, while an older child had already removed the charming ideal of potential by existing as they were. How dare they.</p>
<p>Her thoughts were interrupted and she did a double-take; were her eyes mistaken or was the child, who was formerly on the top step, now down at the bottom? How did it get there? </p>
<p>She shook her head, she must have been mistaken. The stress was clearly getting to her.</p>
<p>“Let’s see, do you even have a name?” she wondered aloud as she moved down to pick up the child who was surprisingly sleeping quite peacefully in her bundle of blankets, despite the chilly morning air. Her exposed (and rather cute) little nose was even warm to the touch, which was rather odd.</p>
<p>“Of course, no note, no money… always the same…”</p>
<p>With no other choice, Beatrice simply sighed and took the child back inside with her, along with the newspaper that she had actually gone out to collect in the first place. She laughed as she realised that the postman would have seen the child and casually ignored it.</p>
<p>What a charming world they lived in.</p>
<p>“What are you chuckling about, Beatrice?” A young woman asked with a slight smile as she mopped the floors in the entrance hall of the old building. She had beautiful auburn hair and a warm nature about her, even as she sloshed away with a very old mop and some water that didn’t look any cleaner than the floors she was attempting to improve. The only charming thing about the floor was the smile of the woman who was mopping it.</p>
<p>“Oh, nothing dear, don’t trouble yourself with the thoughts of this old woman,” Beatrice said with a wave of her hand. The young woman, Sarah, was a new addition to her team and had started volunteering just last week at the orphanage. Beatrice was not in a position to turn any help down, although she clearly pointed out to the young woman that she was unable to pay her and would probably never be able to do so. It hadn’t troubled her at all however as she had simply said that she wished to help the children. Beatrice occasionally got ‘good samaritans’ like her coming through, however none stuck around for more than a few months at best; once they realised that the work they were doing hardly ever led to actual positive outcomes they tended to move on to something that felt more rewarding, like community firefighting or putting band-aides on people at festivals.</p>
<p>“Here, take this,” Beatrice said airily, “I think it needs changing.”</p>
<p>Sarah’s eyes widened as she realised that Beatrice was holding out a bundle of blankets that looked suspiciously like-</p>
<p>“Is, is that a-”</p>
<p>“A headache is what it is,” Beatrice huffed, “we’ll need to report this immediately. The police can do a check to see which births occurred that match her age and who knows, they may get lucky and find something that stands out.”</p>
<p>“And if they don’t?” Sarah asked, shocked at what she was seeing.</p>
<p>“Then we have another mouth to feed it seems,” Beatrice said, rather annoyed at the thought.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Beatrice, it turned out that James and Lily Potter’s daughter was not easily found in the muggle databases and, with no name or knowledge of who she was, the police were rather baffled about what to do with the child now.</p>
<p>“I’m not really sure what we do here,” one of the officers admitted to the other quietly, though Beatrice’s hearing was a lot sharper than people gave her credit for, “don’t we have to fill out a form-eight for this? Take protective custody of the child?”</p>
<p>“Can’t consider it a missing child if no-one has reported it,” the other officer countered, “and what are we going to put on the form? It doesn’t have a name and we have zero details about it. We could file it as child abuse, but we have no-one to charge. These cases can take years to get sorted in the courts,” he added with a small sigh, “especially for one with no identification.”</p>
<p>“I have a solution,” Beatrice said, interrupting the two, “how about I just take the child back, find an appropriate carer and have her adopted with some creative paperwork. I bet I can get this girl to a family within a few weeks, given her age. All I need you to do is to create a file that gives her a date of birth and an ID of some kind, so that I can use it as a reference to fudge through adoption forms later. No-one is going to look closely into something like this, don’t worry. No-one ever does.”</p>
<p>The offices looked at each other for a moment.</p>
<p>“Or,” Beatrice said pointedly, “you can send this child down the legal rabbit-hole of which she will never come out of by attempting to submit a report of having found an unidentified child, and effectively ruin her chances as she will probably be several years old by the time your department has finished chasing its own tail and the courts have had their back and forth. What’s it going to be for this little one? Adoption? Or state-ownership?”</p>
<p>Fifteen minutes later, Beatrice strolled from the police station with a child that now had a very vague file on record of her birth. She had been given a randomly selected name and a randomly selected date of birth by the two officers for the file and only Beatrice knew it for the paperwork; however she elected not to share it and in the end, she took that secret with her to her grave.</p>
<p>“Why not give her a name?” Sarah asked when Beatrice explained that the child was to stay with them in the hopes of adoption, and that she was to remain nameless for now.</p>
<p>“This little one will be in and out of here, given her age,” Beatrice explained, “it’s a benefit not having a name; prospective parents will be far more drawn to the idea of giving her their own name. It makes her feel more like their own child. Trust me, it’s very effective. People do it with puppies all the time.”</p>
<p>“Yeah but this is a little girl…” Sarah said slowly.</p>
<p>“... that we are trying to get adopted out,” Beatrice finished, “whatever works.”</p>
<p>Sarah had to begrudgingly agree that in a twisted way it did make sense, but she felt rather bad for simply called her ‘the child’ or ‘the girl’. Despite electing to avoid giving her a name just yet, Sarah couldn’t help but grow attached to the young girl anyway. She was remarkably quiet, incredibly easy to entertain and had the most beautiful emerald green eyes that Sarah had ever seen. Her black hair was surprisingly long and thick for such a young child and it almost seemed unnatural, yet it was quite charming in its own way. Sarah knew that it was a terrible idea to grow overly fond of the young girl but, she simply couldn’t help it. The girl was an absolute delight to be around.</p>
<p>As time went on, both Sarah and Beatrice began to notice that there was more unusual things about the girl than just her luscious hair or excellent behaviour. Beatrice had been holding the girl in the lobby one afternoon, who had been completely empty handed, when she looked down once again to see that the girl was suddenly holding a toy car. Beatrice had no idea where she had gotten the car in the first place since they didn’t have choking-hazard toys in the building as a flat-rule. Besides, unless the girl had extendable-arms, there was no way she could have reached the floor or desk to pick it up. It was slightly unsettling but she did her best to brush it off. Sarah had her own odd experiences with the girl as she noticed the flowers in every room becoming more lively and visibly brightening whenever she walked past them with the girl in her arms. They sometimes even changed their position entirely, which was incredibly disturbing. It wasn’t that unusual for plants to change in order to follow the source of sunlight or to avoid certain temperatures, however it was very unusual in the orphange since all of the plants were fake and shouldn’t have been doing anything at all, in any capacity, ever.</p>
<p>Beatrice continued to grow more and more concerned about the child’s behaviour and odd occurrences over time, however she didn’t think that she had anything to fear as the girl was quiet and rather friendly, with beautiful eyes and an infectious smile. It didn’t take long until there were soon several prospective parents that were interested in adopting her, to Beatrice’s immense relief. Unexpectedly, Beatrice found herself being in the unusual position of having to narrow down her choices of prospects, although the couples were only interested in the bubbling young girl and didn’t even bother to look at any of the older children at all.</p>
<p>Everything went smoothly with a few couples that she picked out; background checks were cleared, proper forms were filed (with some creative problem-solving when it came to the girl’s details) and everyone absolutely adored the quiet, young and friendly girl…</p>
<p>…right up until they had their ‘meetings’ with her.</p>
<p>In order to finalise any adoption, it was required that the prospect parents had several ‘meetings’ with the child, in order to get to know them better and to ensure that both were a good fit for each other. They were supervised by Beatrice and were usually harmless bond-building exercises like playing with blocks together, or reading a book together. It was an important process for the older children who were capable of forming their own opinions, however for a girl this young it was more of a formality than anything else.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the formalities all turned rather sour as there were many strange things that happened at each ‘meeting’. As soon as the child got excited or began to play, bizarre occurrences would happen; blocks would float in the air, lights would flicker on or off and crayons would start to draw on the walls of their own accord. It was an utterly terrifying experience for both Beatrice and the prospective parents, only made worse by gleeful cackles of laughter coming from the young child as she happily played with her toys.</p>
<p>“She’s cursed!” the final couple yelled at Beatrice as they hurried for the door, “she’s evil!”</p>
<p>“No, she’s just…”</p>
<p>Beatrice didn’t even have the heart to disagree anymore, as she wasn’t sure that she actually did.</p>
<p>After she had exhausted all of the best applicants, Beatrice was forced to accept some of the more ‘questionable’ parents who had come seeking the girl. Even those prospects quickly fled however, and it didn’t take long before the girl had developed something of a nasty reputation for herself. The other children did little to aid the girl; they would eagerly spread the rumours to anyone they met or would casually let slip that the girl had been through a dozen prospects already, and that she clearly had something wrong with her that was stopping her adoption.</p>
<p>Beatrice was forced to reluctantly come up with a more permanent home for the child as it became clear that no-one was interested in adopting the ‘demon-child’ as she was starting to be known as. It was admittedly rather scary for Beatrice to be under the same roof; she had lived her life by the word of God and found herself being torn between a desire to help the charming and misunderstood child and a desire to dump the demonic child on another orphanages door in fear of retribution from above. The child had never actually harmed anyone and had only ever looked at Beatrice with a fond or playful expressions, which only served to confuse her more. ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’ was a little harder to enforce when faced with an apparently demonic, yet very friendly and rather cute, orphaned child. Against her better judgement, she prayed for forgiveness and squeezed an old, decrepit crib into one of the bedrooms that housed another younger girl. The girl wasn’t particularly happy about it, but, what else was Beatrice to do?</p>
<p>And so the only daughter and sole heiress to the line of Potter began her strange journey in the orphanage where she would spend the next ten years learning about life, and how she hated it. As the young child lay in her cold crib by a dusty and broken window, she stared up into the sky and saw a shooting star dart past, winking to her slightly as it bid her farewell, good luck and goodnight, before fading into the dark and falling to earth, with none aside from the drowsy child in the crib being aware that it had even fallen at all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Ghost Among the Living</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Beatrice often came across as a very stern matron on the outside and many of the children at the orphanage feared her, despite the fact that she kept them fed and clothed when no-one else would. She found it very unfair, however it was only natural behaviour for the children to fear her whenever she shouted at them in anger or when she cried in frustration; they didn’t understand what she was going through in order to simply keep the lights on and food on the tables, what meagre food that it was. They were children at the end of the day, and Beatrice had never been particularly adept at expressing her feelings with other adults, let alone communicating complicated sentiments to young minds. Still, she believed that she was adequately expressing her affection for the children by ensuring that they continued to have a home to live in, especially as time passed and Sarah, like all of the others, eventually moved on to other things. Beatrice didn’t begrudge her; Sarah had apologetically explained that she had been offered a lucrative position in Paris and would be departing shortly, but Beatrice had waved her off entirely, telling her to go and make something of herself somewhere else. With no others volunteering their time or energy, Beatrice was forced to make do on her own and her stress level increased dramatically with the doubled work load and the new problems that she was facing.</p><p>Aside from the essentials that were required in order to survive, there was one other precious commodity that was in short supply and high demand; space. Something that, unfortunately, the new resident ‘demon-child’ required a lot of.</p><p>The girl was only small, of course, and occupied very little space directly. She could have easily fit into any of the bedrooms that were available at the orphanage, or bunked with any number of people, were it not for the unfortunate fact that she had a slight problem; whenever she shared a room with another child, her strange powers began to affect them in many ways and it made sharing a room almost impossible. It had been smooth sailing for a few days as the girl simply spent her time quietly laying in her crib, staring up at the sky through the broken window of the run-down room she shared with another girl, who was seven years old. The older girl had even commented to Beatrice how eerily quiet the new girl was, which was a relief as Beatrice had worried that the young child would disturb the older girl regularly.</p><p>The good times didn’t last however and after tossing and turning for an hour, the seven year old suddenly awoke and positively screamed the orphanage down in fear at the things she was seeing. Naturally Beatrice arrived in her oversized nightgown and hushed the child to sleep, reassuring her that it was just a nightmare, yet when the same thing occurred three times over the next hour, she realised that this wasn’t a simple nightmare at all. Beatrice was quick to figure out that it must have been the presence of the child and so she tried several things; she tried creating a wall between the two with hanging sheets cast down the middle of the room, she tried soothing both girls before bed, she tried providing a night light and more. Nothing seemed to settle either girl however and night after night, screams would shake the foundations as terrifying and traumatic images were sent rocketing through the older girl’s brain, courtesy of the completely unaware ‘demon-child’ she shared a room with. The older girl was soon babbling about green lights, explosions and hooded monsters, and she had become too afraid to even go to sleep at all.</p><p>By the time her third birthday rolled around (not that anyone knew it was) Beatrice had long since given up on the idea of combining the child with others and had given her a room all to herself. While it sounded nice at first, it did absolutely no favours for the child when it came to the bitterness the other children had begun to feel. A new arrival at an orphanage was never popular, especially one that was younger than the existing residents. The children were smart enough to know that the youngest child among them was the most likely to be adopted first, yet when the new arrival was also given special treatment, purely because she had an unnatural ability to torment the others who attempted to sleep in the same room as her, bitterness soon gave way to anger and eventually, outright hatred. Beatrice knew what the other children were thinking and saying about the new arrival, however she could do nothing about it and even she had to admit herself that the other children did have valid points; it was rather unfair on them no matter which way you looked at it.</p><p>Beatrice had tried, Lord knows she tried, to get get the girl adopted quickly. It was the best solution for everyone (the girl included) to get her out of there as soon as possible. Yet, she was growing at an unusual pace and she had already started to look much older than she was. She was rapidly progressing beyond the age that was highly popular and was starting to become harder and harder to find potential parents for, even when Beatrice had lowered her (already low) standards. Worse still, the girl had not only begun to talk, but had taken to forming disturbingly well constructed sentences that sounded rather disconcerting when spoken by a small child. It was admittedly adorable at first when the small child asked something like, ‘could you tell me the time, please?’ yet it hadn’t taken long to progress into more complicated comments or questions that were simply unsettling. When she had asked two prospective parents, ‘do you know why I am here?’ it had proven too much for them and they had bolted for the door, never to return. Of course, there was also the fact that she had asked the question while the lights flickered, children’s books swirled in the air around her head and two blocks clapped loudly against each other in the corner; it did make for an understandably upsetting experience.</p><p>The girl had reached four years old when she had her first experience with the ire of the other children. She had been planning to enjoy her wholesome breakfast of a piece of stale bread and a slightly soft apple (the standard fare at the orphanage) when a much older boy had taken the apple straight out of her hands. He was quite imposing as he was rather stocky and had short orange hair, with freckles that lined the bridge of his nose and an ugly expression upon his face.</p><p>“I wanted to eat that,” she said with a frown, not understanding why he had taken it. It was her apple, why had he taken it? He already had an apple, lodged firmly in his other hand.</p><p>“Yeah well I wanted a good nights sleep but I’m forced to share with THREE other boys now,” he said aggressively as he bit down onto her apple, “if you didn’t occupy the entire top floor with your weirdness, we would all have space to ourselves.”</p><p>“I don’t have a whole top floor,” she said in confusion, “I have one room.”</p><p>“The nightmares are spreading,” the boy said angrily, “and now they are moving everyone down to the lower floors to be safe. We are all living on top of each other because of you. Maybe it would be best for you to go and kill yourself. I bet that will stop the nightmares.”</p><p>The boy finished off her apple in front of her, before throwing the core squarely in her very shocked and rather distraught face. With tears in her eyes, she had tried to ask Beatrice for another apple, yet Beatrice, in growing frustration, snapped at the girl and told her not to be greedy.</p><p>“Don’t you have enough?” Beatrice sighed exasperatedly, “how much more do you want from us? You already have half of this place to yourself now!”</p><p>The girl felt tremendously guilty and didn’t ask for more food again, even as the large boy continued to take her apple every day. </p><p>With only a bit of bread and the occasional few bites of fruit per day, the girl would have likely starved to death at some point in time, or at least become a complete mess from malnutrition, however she managed to pull off an astonishing feat that even she didn’t understand at all. She had been lying in her bed, having long since outgrown the crib, and clutching at her stomach as pain gnawed at her insides. Her body was screaming for sustenance yet she did not dare and go and ask for more food. She simply tried to ignore the pain and go to sleep, yet as she rolled over in bed, she suddenly found herself falling in the air. Panicked, she quickly held her hands out and she landed painfully onto a solid tiled floor, although thankfully the drop hadn’t been from a particular high height.</p><p>With confusion, she looked around to see that she was no longer in her own bedroom and was… well, she didn’t quite know where. There was something strangely familiar about the place but she didn’t know why it would be. Her attention was stolen before she could think too much about it by the tall glass displays around her that held all manner of bread and cakes in them, and she was overwhelmed by the sudden wafting smell of freshly baked goods in the air. It was heavenly and her mouth began to water at the scent, while her stomach grumbled loudly. So loudly in fact, that a strange man appeared from around the corner, startling her.</p><p>“What the-!”</p><p>The large man, who had a big belly and a strange white hat on his head, peered down in confusion at the child who was currently standing within his closed and locked bakery.</p><p>“How-how did you get in? We’re closed right now,” he said slowly, “you’ll… you’ll have to come back when we open. Where are your parents? Are you lost?”</p><p>“I don’t have any parents,” the girl replied, “I am from the orphanage.”</p><p>“Oh, that place…” he muttered grimly, “nasty business that. A shame for the kids there, well… for you, I guess. But how did you get in?”</p><p>“I guess I was hungry,” she said quietly, “I didn’t mean to come here. Honest.”</p><p>His expression softened as her stomach grumbled very audibly in front of him.</p><p>“You don’t get much food over there?” he asked her. She simply shook her head in response.</p><p>“No and my food gets taken away all the time too.”</p><p>“That’s rough… Well, look, I can’t just give everything away to every kid who comes sneaking in here,” he began, “but… here, you can at least have this.”</p><p>He handed her a large loaf of bread and a few small cakes, to her great surprise.</p><p>“Now, you best be off,” he said as he shuffled her towards the door with her arms full of her new treats, “you know your own way back?”</p><p>“Oh… I’m sure I can find it,” she replied with a shrug, currently rather distracted by the strange scent of the freshly baked loaf of bread. It was like nothing she had ever experienced; now that she had it up close she could feel it was warm within her hands and it almost smelled… sweet. It was the most comforting thing she had ever held and it almost moved her to tears. She felt a strange urge to hug the loaf but she resisted, knowing that baker would probably think she was crazy.</p><p>“Well, it’s not too far, you just follow this road straight down and turn left at Rosemary. It’s the first one, you can’t miss it.”</p><p>The baker unlocked the door and shuffled her out with a slightly sad expression. To run a business within a fast-paced and cut-throat city one had to be firm and strict in their dealings, yet it wasn’t every day that someone had to turn out a young child in the middle of the night. She didn’t seem phased at all however, which was perhaps the most upsetting thing about the whole ordeal. He knew that the city had its share of vagrant children and she wasn’t the first to come begging for scraps (although she was the first to somehow get around his alarm). He simply sighed and tried not to think too much about her as he busied himself back in his work. Life was a cruel mistress in this city and it always had been; London was the city of trampled dreams and calloused fingers. You worked yourself to the bone for a pittance or you perished. The city didn’t discriminate when it came to which dreams it crushed in that regard, and it had always been like that. London may be ‘open’ but many of the doors within it remained firmly ‘closed’.</p><p>The girl, blissfully unaware of the cultural and economical struggles of the city, took a few steps down the road in the direction of the orphanage, however after a moment she looked around and, when she saw that no-one was watching, she absurdly hugged the loaf tightly in her arms, pulling the loaf up against her cheek. It was unbelievably warm and cosy; she wondered if this is what it felt like to hug another person. After taking a moment to recover herself, she continued to wander down the road and curiously looked around as she went; she hadn’t seen much of the outside world beyond the borders of the orphanage and the park that they visited sometimes (though it had been Sarah who had taken them and she was now, sadly, gone). She was so lost in the world that she almost walked straight past the street that she was meant to be turning down. She quickly spun on the spot to turn back and-</p><p>She blinked repeatedly as she realised that she was standing in her bedroom once again.</p><p>‘That’s neat,’ she thought to herself as she sat down on her bed. She felt a bit strange, but she couldn’t really tell whether her dizziness and nausea were from what she had just done or whether it was from the gnawing hunger that she felt in her stomach. Wasting no more time, she simply shrugged and began to pull apart the loaf of bread. She excitedly giggled for the first time in memory as she watched the super soft and spongy bread pull apart in awe. It was light, fluffy and reminded her of the clouds she would often watch float by from her window. She had never thought of the clouds as being bread before, yet now, she couldn’t help but wonder if she could go up and eat them too.</p><p>‘Maybe I can make myself appear up there too,’ she thought to herself happily, ‘I would have enough food to last forever.’</p><p>Unlike the clouds, her loaf of bread and single serve cakes (that she enjoyed, but found painfully sweet) hadn’t lasted forever and she had eventually made her way through the loaf over the next few days. She found herself lying in bed once again with the all-too familiar sense of gnawing hunger scratching at her insides. Unfortunately, unlike her blissful ignorance that she previously held, all she could think of now was the soft, pliable bread of that baker who had kindly given it to her. It was an irony of sorts; the act of kindness had only given her a renewed sense of longing and desire, now that she knew just what she was missing out on. </p><p>She resisted for several more nights, until she eventually caved in and once again, found herself desperately twisting on the spot within her bedroom. Thankfully, it worked and she appeared right in the middle of the bakery to her delight. She was prepared this time however, and she immediately ran to the side and hid behind a silver trolley that perfectly obscured her small frame.</p><p>“Hm? Someone there?” The baker asked as he rounded a corner to inspect the area, but she stayed quiet and simply waited with bated breath. Eventually, the baker shrugged and returned to the rear, leaving her alone with all of the bread she could ever need. She began to grab the loaves; she took one, two, three, four even-!</p><p>She stopped with a frown. It didn’t feel right to take so many and she remembered the baker’s kind face when he had given her the first loaf while admitting that he probably shouldn’t. With a soft sigh, she put three of the loaves back on the rack where they belong and after a moment of internal debate, decided that she really didn’t need a full loaf if she was being honest with herself. She pulled the loaf in half and put half back on the shelf with the others, thinking that she was doing the right thing.</p><p>Satisfied, she spun on the spot and disappeared, returning once again to her bedroom with a happy smile at having mastered the useful little trick, and she began to carefully ration out her bread for the following few days, knowing that she needed to be disciplined with how much she was eating.</p><p>***********************</p><p>The girl blinked and before she knew it, three years had passed since her first trip to that small bakery on the outskirts of London.</p><p>She had settled into a comfortable rhythm over time; she had learned that the bakery was closed on Sundays and that the baker was only there in the evenings, while a woman ran the shop-front during the day. She had taken to using those precious Sundays to ‘twist’ (as she called it) into the bakery and take a very limited amount of food that, with careful planning, would sustain her through the week. She kept her plunder carefully hidden in her room, but thankfully no-one particularly wanted to step foot into her room and the other children only ever seemed to accost her in the dining area during meal times. The top floor of the orphanage had developed something of a taboo over the years, although now that the floor was empty, none of the other children were experiencing any unusual nightmares.</p><p>It hadn’t escaped Beatrice’s notice that the girl was somehow managing to survive off a ludicrously small amount of food. Beatrice was no fool; she had seen the other children taking the girl’s food and had seen them throw things at her or call her unspeakable names when they thought no-one was watching. She took it as yet another sign that the girl was simply unnatural in every way; the girl was certainly skinny but she didn’t appear to be starving and Beatrice could only assume that it was because of her demonic traits she clearly possessed. Several years ago Beatrice may have felt pity for her situation, yet now she was starting to feel a rising anger towards the girl and just how poorly the girl had integrated into the orphanage.</p><p>Beatrice had grown more and more stressed over the years and quite simply, she was getting older. She was tired; she was tired of fighting with children, she was tired of dealing with complicated paperwork and she was tired of dealing with unnatural occurrences happening around her. She was growing tired of the nameless girl who, despite having started to grow up and become quite pretty, was at the same time growing less cute or innocent with every passing day. Beatrice had given up on the idea of the girl being adopted entirely and didn’t even bother doing any viewings any more, since they all ended the same way, no matter what she did. </p><p>In her bitterness, Beatrice had started to blame the girl for more than just the lack of adoption, even if the girl didn’t do anything else intentionally. Whenever the power went out, she would assume that it was because of the girl or whenever a child had a nightmare at all, it was clearly her influence spreading. Thankfully the girl didn’t do anything specific to antagonise the other children or even defend herself against them in any way. She would quietly hand over her food after eating what she could and head back to her room. Any time that she wasn’t eating, or using the grimy shared bathroom, she spent in her room reading whatever books she could get her hands on. She had started with simple children’s books; picture books that linked words to images or visually explained what a word was. Beatrice didn’t mind her taking those books as she was the youngest and the other children didn’t use them anyway. The children were technically all home-schooled, although their ‘education’ was mostly Beatrice teaching them the basics of English and maths and then letting them figure out the rest on their own. None of the other children had any interest in learning regardless, so Beatrice didn’t waste her precious time on forcing it down their throats. Unlike the others however, their newest addition to the troop was rather interested in learning and she was rapidly advanced beyond the learning material that was made available to her. Beatrice had even caught the girl snooping around the books in the entrance hall; old novels and short stories that were far too advanced for her years. The books were mostly there to make the place look distinguished, not to actually encourage any form of linguistic flexibility among the children. Still, Beatrice didn’t mind if she wanted to flick through adult books that she wouldn’t understand; whatever kept her in her room, kept her quiet and kept her out of their way.</p><p>The fragile peace (if you could call the bullying, starvation and isolation ‘peaceful’) eventually came crashing down upon a very ordinary Tuesday morning. The older ginger boy who had been a thorn in her side for a long time, Lewis, came along to once again take the ‘demon-child’s’ food (though he had taken to calling her some far more unpleasant names than that lately). She didn’t care at all and simply handed him her fruit without complaint, as per usual.</p><p>“Nah I don’t want that,” he said with a grin, “I want whatever you got hidden away.”</p><p>Her heart began to thump loudly at his words; how had he known?</p><p>“I don’t have anything hidden away,” she said with an outward appearance of calm and quiet, “you take everything I have.”</p><p>“Bullshit,” the boy said flatly, “old Batty Beatrice even said the other day that she don’t know how you ain’t starved yet. I got to thinking, you must have a stash of some good shit, right? I bet its in your room, isn’t it?”</p><p>“No!” she replied, a little too quickly.</p><p>“Knew it,” he smirked and with a brief look over at Beatrice, who was sitting on the other side of the dining area and tiredly reading a newspaper, he began to run off in the directions of the stairs. With fear in her heart, the girl began to race after him, crying out “wait!” as she went.</p><p>“No running inside, I’ve told you all this!” Beatrice yelled out in anger, but her complaints fell upon deaf ears.</p><p>Lewis had much longer legs and far wider strides so he was able to reach the bedroom faster that the girl ever could have, however she wasn’t actually as far behind as he would expected her to be. He burst into her room and immediately began to rummage around; tossing her pillow from her bed and lifting up the mattress before throwing open the wardrobe doors and tossing aside the grey, rotten clothing, which was all the girl had ever worn. She thought for a moment that her hiding may have been enough, however her heart sank as he emerged triumphantly with her remaining portion of bread.</p><p>“So this is what you were hiding… this ain’t the cheap shit they give us,” he said curiously as he took a bite directly from the loaf, “… not bad.”</p><p>She watched him sit down on her bed and eat his way through her loaf of bread, and she felt strangely violated. It was as though he had not only taken her food, he had taken the only thing that she owned for herself, the only thing that gave her any kind of hope or purpose. It wasn’t really about the bread; he was taking her secret. He was taking her little slice of the world that was just purely for her, and chomping straight through it with every rough bite.</p><p>“Why?” she asked him with growing anger, “why must you take everything of mine? Why can’t you leave me be?”</p><p>“Because you’re an evil witch,” he mumbled through his mouthful of bread, “and as I’ve always said, you should leave whatever you’ve got here an’ go kill yourself. Best for everyone, really.”</p><p>Tears began to form in her eyes as she watched the boy enjoy the last morsels of her bread. Was it really so wrong for her to just want to have something for herself? The boy clearly didn’t appreciate the delicate flavour or the soft texture of the beautiful hand-made bread, he simply chowed it down as if it were nothing and continued to rummage through, finding a few old cakes at the bottom of the wardrobe and almost squealing in delight as he ate them whole. She wasn’t as upset about the cakes, but, they were still her cakes. She had only taken a few over the years as she found them to be too sweet, but, she still likely to occasionally nibble on the edges.</p><p>“I… I don’t think it’s fair,” she said in a shaky voice, “I don’t think it’s right.”</p><p>He turned around and laughed in her face, and she winced slightly as crumbs came flying out of his mouth.</p><p>“What are you going to do about it?” he laughed, “nothing, that’s what.”</p><p>He pushed her roughly and sent her sprawling out onto the ground. She was shocked; he had thrown things at her before but he had never actually directly hurt her like that before. She slowly rose to her feet, yet before she could even comprehend what had happened to her, he had one again pushed her and sent her back down to the ground.</p><p>“Pathetic,” he laughed.</p><p>She tried to get up again, and once more, she found herself back on the ground where she had started.</p><p>“Stop it!” she cried out with tears in her eyes, “you’re being so mean!”</p><p>“Like I said, what are you going to do about it?” he laughed. </p><p>She paused; she didn’t know what to do about it. What could she do about it? He was so much larger than her and she couldn’t even get to her feet. The knowledge made her angry; it simply wasn’t fair. He wasn’t fair. None of this was fair!</p><p>She glared at him from the ground, however he simply snickered at her expression. </p><p>That was, until his laughter slowly began to fade and was suddenly replaced by sounds of horror as his hands sprung to his throat and he started to gasp loudly for air. She was quite shocked, and rather intrigued, as she stood up slowly and watched him spluttering before her. He was starting to turn a different colour in his face and it was rather fascinating.</p><p>“Right, what the hell is going on here-” Beatrice began as she finally reached the room on the top floor with an exhausted huff. The stairs seemed to get steeper and steeper every day for Beatrice.</p><p>Her eyes landed on the choking boy and she gasped with her hand over her mouth.</p><p>“What are you doing?” she hissed vehemently to the young girl, “let him go this instant!”</p><p>“I’m not doing anything!” the girl cried out indignantly, “I don’t know what’s wrong with him!”</p><p>Lewis’ eyes began to roll back into his head and at this point Beatrice, in a panic, turned and smacked the small girl hard across the face. The force of the hit left her seeing stars and she fell down once again, too shell-shocked by the blow to even comprehend what was happening. It seemed to be effective however as Lewis immediately drew in several loud, rasping breaths in an attempt to fill his lungs with as much oxygen as he could drag into his screaming body.</p><p>“She’s-she’s-crazy-” he panted out between breaths, “tried-to-kill-me-”</p><p>“I didn’t!” she replied as she got to her feet, “I didn’t!”</p><p>“You,” Beatrice said in a low, dangerous voice, “you’re coming with me. I’ve had enough of this.”</p><p>Beatrice grabbed her by the hair and painfully dragged her across the room, to the satisfaction of Lewis as he watched on, still panting heavily. She was dragged all the way to the stairs and roughly escorted, in front of the growing crowd of children who had come to watch, down into the cellar that was below the orphanage. It was originally a storage space for valuable commodities, although the orphanage hadn’t possessed anything valuable enough to store down there in some time. The ‘security systems’ were still in place however, which turned out to be a set of iron bars and an open gate. There was a small flight of stairs prior to the gate, which Beatrice roughly tossed the girl down, sending her rolling painfully into the barred off area. Once she was in, Beatrice slammed the gate shut and, for good measure, sealed the padlock while the children behind her cheered and jeered at the sight.</p><p>“Enjoy your new room,” Beatrice said bitterly, “maybe now we’ll both have some peace around here.”</p><p>She turned and took the stairs back up before closing the outer cellar door, leaving the confused girl in complete darkness.</p><p>***********************</p><p>It was dark, cold and rather filthy in the cellar that she now called her room. Her eyes adjusted to the lack of light over time and she discovered that there were a few things within the cellar that she could use. A few old straw sacks became a makeshift bed and there was a sink to the side that had running water she could use to drink or clean herself with (though she didn’t know if drinking it was the best idea since it tasted a little… metallic). There were large drains in the corner and she could remove the cover do her business, as unpleasant as that was. She got used to it over time however, since she had little other choice. She was grateful for the large sink, since the source of running water had become the lynchpin of her entire life both for drinking and for cleanliness. She even had company now; though it came in the form of a few mice that curiously watched her disturb their habitat with suspicious eyes.</p><p>She had never truly appreciate the finer things about her old bedroom before, but she certainly had begun to miss it now. It had a bed in it, for one thing, even if it was hard and very damaged. Here, she simply slept on the painful stone floor and her assortment of worn, old, straw bedding did little to relieve the pressure. She had none of her books in here, although she didn’t have the light to read them anyway and if she really wanted to, she could practically remember those books word-for-word by this point. She did find a light switch and even a power socket during her exploration, however unsurprisingly the light didn’t work and she doubted that the power socket did either, not that she even had anything to put in there anyway. </p><p>At least she was no longer having her food taken from her and since it was quite cold in the cellar it even seemed to be keeping for longer than it used to. She would cover her eyes every morning when Beatrice would arrive at the top of the stairs and throw some scraps of food down to the bottom in anger. She didn’t care about that at first since she had her access to the bakery of course and for the first night she simply threw the scraps of food down one of the industrial sized drains in the corner.</p><p>She visited the bakery once again while it was closed to take her usual serving from the shelves, however she was met with an unexpected sight and sound when she arrived this time. The baker was not there, however there was the slightly uncomfortable sound of sharp nails scratching on glass and she looked over to see that there was a large black dog sniffing around the door and attempting to push it open.</p><p>She was confused at the sight, however she couldn’t help but notice that the dog was rather frail and she could see the dogs ribs sticking out against her skin. It reminded her of herself; whenever she would strip and clean herself she would run her hands over her gaunt sides and bony hips, wondering if that was what everyone felt like underneath their clothes. She hadn’t noticed or cared in the slightest before, however as she continued to grow she had become more and more aware of the presence of her body and the many features that it had (or lacked). It hadn’t escaped her notice that Beatrice was quite large around the stomach and had very large breasts that visibly hung on her chest, while she did not. She wondered about that; would she develop them when she was older? Would her stomach get larger and her legs get thicker? As she looked at the thin dog attempting to work out how to get in the door, she sighed and took pity on the poor creature. She took some of the bread and moved over to the door, seeing the dog pause for a moment as it realised that someone was actually inside.</p><p>“It’s okay,” she said kindly as approached the door and began to fiddle with the lock, “I’m not going to hurt you.”</p><p>It took some maneuvering but eventually, she figured out how the little lock worked on the door and she was able to open it up. The dog backed up cautiously when she swung the door open, but she simply tossed the bread out to him and after a moment, he began to wolf it down eagerly.</p><p>“You’re very cute,” she said to the shaggy dog.</p><p>“Woof.”</p><p>“Do you not have parents either?”</p><p>“Woof.”</p><p>“I live at the orphanage. It’s a place for children without parents.”</p><p>“... woof.”</p><p>“I don’t get much food there so I have to come here and steal it. I feel bad about it but…”</p><p>“Woof…”</p><p>“It’s okay though, because do you know what? I can teleport! That’s how I get in here!”</p><p>“Woof?”</p><p>“Our little secret though!”</p><p>“Woof! Woof!”</p><p>She laughed at the dog as it happily panted and stared back at her. He tilted his head and looked at her curiously, which only caused her to chuckle even more. Perhaps it was her laugh that startled him; it had startled herself since she had almost forgotten how to laugh. In fact, she wasn’t sure that she remembered laughing at all. She probably sounded ridiculous.</p><p>“I think-”</p><p>She began to speak once again, however she was cut off as a car arrived out the front of the bakery. She knew what cars were (in theory) but this one was quite strange; it had bright red and blue flashing lights on the top of it and two people in matching uniforms quickly got out of the car as soon as they pulled over.</p><p>“Stop right there! Police!”</p><p>The dog growled in their direction and raised its hackles at them, which told the girl everything she needed to know. She didn’t wait around to see what they wanted; instead she turned and ran to the back of the bakery once again before turning on the spot and disappearing. She arrived safely back in the cellar in a panic, however as she slowly began to calm down she realised that she wouldn’t be able return any time soon. More than anything else, she grew concerned about the dog; what if he needed help? She should have brought the dog with her or… something… </p><p>She hoped that he was okay; surely those people would have just shooed him away. Unless… what if he ended up like her, trapped in a cage somewhere? What if they killed him? It was a depressing thought and she regretted having it as soon as it entered her head, but somehow, she thought that was probably the most likely outcome and it festered like an infected wound, sending her into a downward spiral of negative thoughts and emotions. With the knowledge that she couldn’t go to the bakery again, she instead focused on carefully rationing her own portion of scrap food throughout the day, and she simply did nothing more than pass the time, alone in the dark.</p><p>A few weeks after the alarm had been tripped, the baker wondered why his ‘mystery thief’, who had been humorously taking half a bread loaf every week for the past few years, hasn’t shown up again. He had enjoyed coming in to find that half-torn loaf every Monday, because he knew it meant that the girl he had once caught within his shop was still doing okay. It was always the same; half a loaf of bread and occasionally, just occasionally, a caramel tart or apple pie. Now however, with his stock perfectly intact for several weeks, he wondered whether something had happened to her and his heart sank at the thought. He could only hope that she was no long coming because she no longer needed to steal, but somehow, even he doubted that.</p><p>He sadly broke a fresh loaf in two and left one half sitting out just in case, but she never did come back to take it.</p><p>***********************</p><p>“Oh, who is it?” the girl wondered loudly, as if there was any doubt as to who would be entering her cellar in the morning, as per every morning.</p><p>“It’s me,” Beatrice said tiredly, as if she hadn’t answered the question a thousand times before, “here’s your breakfast.”</p><p>Beatrice no longer threw scraps on the ground as she used to, she instead handed a paper plate to the girl through the gate. A small mercy, but one that the girl rather appreciated.</p><p>“Thank you,” she replied politely, “I read once that you should always be polite. It’s a nice feeling, isn’t it?”</p><p>“Sure,” Beatrice said dismissively, knowing that the girl would chatter away about nonsense for hours given the chance, “anyway, I have a surprise for you.”</p><p>“A surprise?” she asked suspiciously. She does not like surprises; by its very nature, a surprise is unexpected and unexpected is usually unpleasant.</p><p>“Here she is,” Beatrice said as she stepped away from the gate.</p><p>The girl peered out at familiar face, who moved around Beatrice and peered back in.</p><p>“... Sarah?”</p><p>“Oh my god,” Sarah exclaimed as she looked at the girl, “look at you, you’ve gotten so tall, and so pretty!”</p><p>“Oh. Thank you,” the girl replied, “you look like you are doing well.”</p><p>Sarah did look rather fabulous as she was dressed in rather fashionable business attire; a bright blue skirt and blazer with a white collared shirt and shiny black heels that clicked and clacked when she walked. Her hair was tied up in a neat bun and her cheeks had a rosy blush upon them.</p><p>“I didn’t think that you would still be here,” Sarah admitted, “I was in the neighbourhood and I thought, for old times sake, I would come by. What… are you doing down here?”</p><p>“This is my room,” the girl replied lightly.</p><p>“It’s uh…” Sarah began as she tried to peer around in the dark, “don’t you need some light down here?”</p><p>“The lights don’t work,” the girl replied, “broken. But I don’t mind it. I’m like an owl. Hoot. Hoot.”</p><p>“Right…” Sarah said slowly.</p><p>“Well, you’ve said your hellos,” Beatrice said briskly, “time you said your goodbyes.”</p><p>“Wait-that’s it?” the girl asked quickly, “but… but-”</p><p>“I’ll come see you again,” Sarah replied sadly with a knowing look towards Beatrice, “I’m only here for a one-day conference but I’ll visit again before I go, if that’s what you would like.”</p><p>“I would love it.”</p><p>Sarah smiled fondly before she turned around and was ushered out by Beatrice, who closed the cellar door and left the girl alone in the dark once more.</p><p>“That is inhumane,” Sarah said immediately after they closed the door, “I can’t believe you keep her down there.”</p><p>“Well we both know she isn’t human,” Beatrice said with a frown.</p><p>“Don’t pull that shit on me, Beatrice,” Sarah said sharply, “she was certainly… odd, but it doesn’t give you the right to be cruel.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t understand,” Beatrice said with a shake of her head, “after you left things only got worse. Floating toys were the least of our problems! She almost killed Lewis! Almost killed him!”</p><p>“So you cage her like a dog?” Sarah asked incredulously, “instead of getting her the help she needs?”</p><p>“What would you have me do, Sarah?” Beatrice asked exasperatedly, “I’ve tried everything, even tried having her exorcised and she just looked confused.”</p><p>“She clearly needs her own space and proper care,” Sarah said pointedly.</p><p>“You… of all people, you show up after years and suddenly decide to play the defender of the downtrodden? Tell me; what have you done for these children since you left, hm? Campaigned for greater funding? Advocated for more adoptive parents? Hm?”</p><p>Sarah said nothing in response and simply stared at Beatrice with sad eyes.</p><p>“You left like everyone else and as always, I was the one who stayed and looked after them. You don’t get to be high and mighty with me, I’ve done more for her than you ever did.”</p><p>Sarah pursed her lips, but she said no more as she left.</p><p>She had to admit that there was truth in Beatrice’s words; she had abandoned the children many years ago and she didn’t really have a right to suddenly stick her nose in and criticise what was going on. Beatrice was right in her assumptions; Sarah had been so caught up in her work that she hadn’t done anything good lately. She hadn’t volunteered, she hadn’t advocated for anything, she had simply gone to work, put in her overtime, went home and slept. Until she returned to London for this conference, she had hardly thought about the children at all.</p><p>As a small way to make amends, she did the only thing that she could think of doing.</p><p>“What’s this?” the girl asked curiously as Sarah handed her a strange object the following afternoon.</p><p>“It’s a lamp,” Sarah pointed out, “I know it doesn’t look like the ones you are used to but it works just the same. It’s battery powered and has very long lasting batteries in it. If you need more later, I’m sure Beatrice can work something out.”</p><p>Beatrice simply grunted, not offering anything in way of a committed response.</p><p>“Oh, that’s really cool!” </p><p>The girl sounded happy, albeit still slightly confused. Sarah had to admit that the lamp was a bit out of the ordinary as it was shaped like a cube and had to be pressed in to be turned on or off, like a button, but Sarah though it was cute and fun and it seemed that the girl agreed.</p><p>“And here,” Sarah pulled a stack of books from her large bag and handed them to the girl, “now I know that these are going to be too advanced for you right now, but I think if you keep practicing and working at it, then one day-”</p><p>“Books!” the girl exclaimed happily, “oh, I do love to read.”</p><p>Sarah smiled fondly at her and placed her hand gently on the girl’s shoulder.</p><p>“You take care of yourself,” Sarah whispered quietly, “I’m sorry I can’t do more but if Beatrice gives you any trouble… don’t be afraid to use those powers of yours, you hear me?”</p><p>“I… I hear you,” the girl replied quietly.</p><p>After a moment of hesitation, Sarah leaned down and pulled the girl into a hug. It was the first time that she had been properly hugged before and it was an overwhelming sensation, to say the least. Sarah was much taller than she was, yet she still crouched down to match her height and she was very soft and warm. She smelled sweet, and kind, and it was a very pleasant experience, even if the girl was simply standing there, clutching her books to her chest while being hugged.</p><p>Sarah gave one final sad smile and departed, followed out by Beatrice who gave the girl an unreadable look before turning and closing the door.</p><p>Excited, the girl hurried back over to her makeshift bed and placed the cube down, slowly pressing it down until it clicked and lit up with a gentle glow. She giggled happily, and immediately began to work her way through the books that she had been given. Sarah wasn’t kidding; the books were quite difficult for her and unlike anything she had read so far, but she endured. After all, it wasn’t like she was doing anything else with her time.</p><p>‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and…’</p><p>She spent the next year reading and re-reading the books that she had been given, over and over, until she could almost recite them from cover to cover. What she lacked in vocabulary she made up for with imagination, and she only needed to understand a few key words from the stories in order to add the rest in for herself. It was like a brand new adventure every time she read the same stories as her shifting imagination grew and adapted, adding in vibrant colours to the scenes or dramatically re-imagining the landscape. Each time she read through a story, she found a new word, or read the same sentence a different way, which completely changed her understanding of the story.</p><p>It was perhaps the most pleasant year of her life so far; which said everything that needed to be said about the state of her life.</p><p>***********************</p><p>The girl was mildly content as time went on. Perhaps not exactly ‘happy’, nor loved or welcomed, but she was alive and had something to occupy her time with. It was enough for her incredibly low standards of living that she possessed and she figured that she could simply continue living like this if she must. She had even learned a neat little trick when the batteries in her lamp had finally died; she knew there was no way that Beatrice would ever get her new batteries but, now that she had the books to read, she was inspired to try and ensure she had a source of light. She had first done it accidentally and shocked herself when she had woken up to find a tiny ball of light floating in the air. It had disappeared as soon as she realised that she was the cause, however she spent the next few months attempting to recreate it. She had reached the point where she could summon enough light to read by, though she did wonder just how big she could actually get her little floating orb of light.</p><p>Overall, things were going okay for the girl as she quietly read her books in the cellar by the light of her magic. That was, until Beatrice came down to the cellar one night with a strange look to her face and with a disgusting smell in the air.</p><p>“I should have known,” she slurred slightly as she pulled open the gate, “black magic. No doubt.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” the girl replied carefully, “are you okay, Madam Beatrice?”</p><p>“Oh go on, call me by what you all say,” Beatrice said with a very loud laugh, “I know what you all call me. I know what you all say about me.”</p><p>“I… I don’t say anything about you,” the girl said. Had Beatrice forgotten that she didn’t talk to the other children and hadn’t for a very long time? Who would she say anything to?</p><p>“Bullshit,” Beatrice spat, “it’s all your fault in the end, as it always is.”</p><p>“What did I do?”</p><p>“They’re stopping the grants,” Beatrice said with a dry laugh, “they’re ‘phasing out’ the orphanages and going to their ‘care home’ models. Bah! Good for the posters and the slogans and the voters, but not for the kids. You’ll see. You’ll all see. It will be the kids who suffer for it in the end while greasy politicians line their pockets and their privately owned construction companies build these ‘care homes’ while skimming off the top. It’s a lie, all of it!”</p><p>The girl was on edge as she realised that something was not right with Beatrice. She was stumbling slightly, she was slurring her words and she was speaking much louder than she normally did.</p><p>“Madam Beatrice,” she asked once again, “are… are you sure you’re okay?”</p><p>“Twenty years!” Beatrice suddenly shouted out of nowhere, “twenty years dry. Not a sip. Not until now.”</p><p>“I don’t understand,” the girl said carefully.</p><p>“I don’t understand,” Beatrice mocked in a sing-song voice, “of course you don’t. All you do is hurt people, don’t you? That’s all you understand. How to murder people and terrorise people and-”</p><p>“I… don’t do those things…”</p><p>“You know I used to think you were a demon; the devil in disguise.”</p><p>Beatrice stumbled slightly, but she continued.</p><p>“Now I think you’re just a stupid little girl who gives people nightmares and doesn’t appreciate what I’ve done for you.”</p><p>“I thought everyone would be happy,” the girl said quietly, “I’m down here and out of the way, isn’t that the best thing for everyone?”</p><p>“You are a god-forsaken curse,” Beatrice said aggressively, though she laughed humourless and added, “just like me. Why have you forsaken me?”</p><p>The girl had no idea what Beatrice was talking about but she was growing concerned about her behaviour.</p><p>“Have I not suffered for my one moment of mercy?” Beatrice suddenly moaned out in despair, “she was but a babe, do you despise me for not being cold and cruel like yourself?”</p><p>The girl said nothing as she was completely and utterly baffled about what Beatrice was talking about.</p><p>“Is that what you want?” Beatrice slurred with a hiccup, “because if that’s what you truly want, it is what I will do…”</p><p>Beatrice suddenly began to approach the alarmed girl, who rapidly retreated for the corner.</p><p>“Wait, what are you doing? No, stop!”</p><p>Beatriced reached forward and grabbed a handful of the girl’s hair.</p><p>“Ow! Let go!”</p><p>“We will both repent together,” Beatrice said with determination and the girl gagged on the overwhelming small of potent fumes coming from her breath, “yes, it is only fitting…”</p><p>“No!” </p><p>“I said NO!”</p><p>A strange shockwave burst forth from the small girl and Beatrice was sent flying across the room in pure shock. Beatrice was getting old and her body was not what it once was, so she cried out in pain when she landed harshly on the cold, stone floor. There was a strong possibility that something had broken, however through her anger and intoxication she somehow managed to get to her feet once again.</p><p>“You ungrateful little bitch!” Beatrice roared, “how dare you!”</p><p>Beatrice moved towards the girl once again, however as she backed away in fear a strange, ethereal barrier appeared between the two. Beatrice paused in horror.</p><p>“What is this black magic?” Beatrice cried out, “the work of the devil himself!”</p><p>She tried to kick the barrier and push her way through, yet it stood as strong as steel; unrelenting, unyielding.</p><p>With no way to pass the barrier, Beatrice inflated with rage and did the only other thing that she could think of doing; she took out her anger onto the girl’s possessions.</p><p>“No!”</p><p>Beatrice grinned vindictively as she stomped violently on Sarah’s lamp, crushing it under her feet and plunging the room into darkness.</p><p>“Take that!” Beatrice exclaimed victoriously, “and that! That’s what you get you stupid whore! Question me in my own house!?”</p><p>The girl was shocked at the sight and tried to run forward, however the barrier was also blocking her own entry through it. It was completely impenetrable, despite the girl’s best efforts to force her way through and all she could was watch on in horror. Beatrice soon realised that the girl was trapped by her own barrier and grinned as another idea came to her.</p><p>“You love your books, don’t you?” she said as she picked up one of them, “well lets make sure you have some light to read, then!”</p><p>Beatrice pulled a lighter from her pocket and ignited the flame, slowly lowering the corner of the book down with taunting glee.</p><p>“Stop it…” the girl cried out, “stop it! I haven’t done anything wrong! Anything! Why are you doing this?”</p><p>Beatrice ignited the book before her eyes and laughed as she dropped it down onto the stack. The girl would have rather been beaten than watch this; yet she couldn’t move forward at all or take down the accursed barrier and had no choice but to stare at the sorrowful sight.</p><p>Satisfied at seeing the girl’s horror and pain, Beatrice scoffed and finally departed, holding her sides as the pain of her fall started to make itself known to her.</p><p>The small fire that had started with the books did not extinguish itself and the girl realised with a growing sense of fear that there were other flammable things down in the cellar. Just about everything was made of wood and all it would take was for the fire to spread to the timber frames, and after that…</p><p>“Go away you stupid thing!” she shouted angrily as she pounded her tiny fist against the shimmering wall of light that blocked her path, “go away!”</p><p>The fire was growing and the air was starting to become filled with a thick smoke. It was, admittedly, slightly hypnotic to watch the smoke rise and form the gentle bands in the air, however she knew that she couldn’t just sit there and watch it happen.</p><p>“Go away! Go away!” she shouted repeatedly, “GO AWAY!”</p><p>She hit the barrier with her open palm and the barrier suddenly burst forward. An intense gust of wind exploded outwards and the girl was sent flying back from the recoil. She looked up from the ground to see that the fire had been extinguished due to the sudden flood of air, and with relief she slumped back down again, exhausted. Eventually, she had no choice but to get up and start cleaning up the mess in her room, and that was practically all the girl did for the next two years; sit in the dark and occasionally clean it with nothing but elbow grease. Her books were gone, her lamp was destroyed and now she had nothing.</p><p>She spent a lot of time alone with her thoughts after that, while playing idly with her magic from time to time. Sometimes, she thought she could hear a strange voice telling her that she was nothing but a ghost that was still walking among the living.</p><p>“How fitting,” she would mumble to herself quietly, “a ghost. Nothing but a ghost.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. From Dusk to Dawn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The girl was sitting alone within the dark confines of her ‘room’, idly bouncing a basketball sized orb of light back and forth against the wall with two hands. She had been forced to come up with new and creative ways to keep her mind from slipping away and as a result, she had been regularly pushing the boundaries of what she could achieve with with her strange powers. What had begun as a simple source of light had turned into her main source of amusement; each time that she threw the light back to the wall she would try to make it bigger and brighter before it returned to her hands, until it would inevitably grow too large and she would struggle to keep its form, causing the light to flicker and fade into the darkness where she would begin with her tennis ball sized light once again. With precious little else to do, it gave her some kind of dexterous mental and physical task to do and she often switched things up by bouncing it off different surfaces, or attempting to throw and catch it with her eyes closed. It was a far more difficult task than it sounded, given that the ball made absolutely no noise when it struck a surface, although sometimes she did wish that she had a real ball purely for that satisfying ‘thud’ that she was missing.</p>
<p>At first, she had been quite upset about her predicament and had mourned the loss of her books and the loss of the only precious item that she had ever owned. Yet as time thoughtlessly powered forward, she found that her formerly powerful emotions had begun to fade into a cathartic apathy and a sense of dispassionate disregard. When she had first been unceremoniously dumped into the cellar, she had felt a certain anger and discontentment within her soul yet as everything around her was stripped away by the darkness that nibbles at the edges of her vision, she felt herself slowly slipping away without a care in the world. Her deep thoughts and vivid imagination were not aided by the intense isolation and over time, they began to transform into vague musings and existential questions that poked and prodded at the delicate veil that guarded the soul. </p>
<p>Why am I here? Is this all that there is for me? What purpose does this serve?</p>
<p>She began to see herself as nought but a shattered reflection to be observed from afar; a pane of fractured glass that warped time and twisted life around its sharp, broken edges until something unrecognisable eventually emerged from the cracks of light with a polite smile, asking kindly if it was allowed to pass through to the other side, and each time a chorus of darkness and silence would slam the dangerous shard back in place and cry, ‘no.’</p>
<p>The days melded into weeks and the months stumbled into years, although the girl hardly noticed the passing of time at all. She occupied her body with pointless tasks that served no real purpose, although she struggled far more with generating any kind of stimulation for the mind. Her mind wandered into strange and surreal places; she hadn’t seen a mirror in quite some time and she wondered what she would see if she was to look into one. Would she even know the girl on the other side? Perhaps she would be kind and thoughtful, with an infectious laugh that spread joy and happiness to any she drifted down upon, or perhaps she would be cold and dangerous, a ticking time-bomb that threatened to violently detonate and ruin everything that the world held dear. Perhaps, she would see neither and instead, she would simply see the vacant, silver eyes of a ghost who was still walking among the living.</p>
<p>Her sense of time had become so completely distorted that she didn’t even know what age she was anymore, nor how long she had been in the cellar. Time is a highly underrated construct; to be without a sense of time is to drift dangerously beyond the thin fabrics of the world that give one a sense of purpose and meaning. The tiniest strands of security that keep the most volatile of people calm and connected to their environment; the ticking of a second or the leaping of a year, all carefully constructed to ensure that every person had their place and knew their value. An age is provided on good faith as a careful collection of currency and traded for peace and serenity.</p>
<p>‘May I purchase a year of life, good sir?’</p>
<p>‘Certainly, that will cost three hundred and sixty five days.’</p>
<p>‘Do you mind if I pay in minutes?’</p>
<p>‘I only accept hours, I’m afraid.’</p>
<p>The girl had no idea at all but it was, in fact, her eleventh birthday that she was quietly spending bouncing a magical orb off a dirty wall within a locked cellar. A rather poor trade, however the month was rather weak at the moment and was trading poorly against the day. Such was the case of Great Depressions; perhaps when a boom hit, she would be able to short the year in exchange for a few valuable hours. If only.</p>
<p>The only concept of time that she still possessed was whenever Beatrice opened the door to throw some scraps of food down into her abyss. The heavens opened above her as light flooded inward, and just as quickly, retreated back once it had seen the darkness and despair below. At first, she believe that it signaled the morning and the start of the day, yet the hours blended together into such a painful whirlwind of time that she was no longer even sure that was the truth. Who was to say that there was any form of regularity to her arrival of food? All it would take is a different hour, or a different day, and every system of measurement that she had provided for herself would come crumbling apart at the seams. Whenever the heavens opened she had begun to ask all sorts of questions about time, yet the heavens rarely replied. Their place was within the light after all, not down in the dark depths with her.</p>
<p>Instead of following a pattern, she began to simply sleep whenever she wanted; her sleep cycle constantly rotated through the day and night. She would sleep to numb the pain, she would sleep from fatigue, she would sometimes simply sleep because she couldn’t come up with anything else to do. The lack of any kind of sleep pattern was, unsurprisingly, not particularly helpful to her mental state and it only served to cause her to withdraw even further into her own shell as her mind struggled to find any kind of grounding in the world.</p>
<p>For the first few months of her renewed life sentence within this dark space, she had toyed with the idea of using her teleport to go outside, even if for no other reason but to simply see the sun, yet every time that she considered it, a strange and unusual fear crept over her. It had been so long and she longed for the warmth of its embrace, yet at the same time, she understood this dark and cold world that she was in. She understood that time had no meaning here; she found a strange comfort in drifting peacefully through the days as they speed up, and slowed down, at will. Down here, she knew that she was her only friend, her best friend and her worst enemy, all wrapped up into one fractured girl who peered back at herself through the shattered reflections of her past and her future. The thought of going outside became beautiful; a place of endless potential and limitless possibilities. It represented the ideal of hope and conquest, of power and glory, of achievement and finality. She could see the sun in all of its splendor within her mind, and she felt that the day she saw the sun would be the day that she finally, blissfully passed from this world. It was a reward that was waiting for her on the other side, and she knew that she couldn’t just go look at it now. Not yet, not until it was time. The sun was potential and therefore it was beautiful; not because of what it was but because of what it could be. </p>
<p>She paused in her thoughts as she realised that something was distracting her from her usual musings. Something was off. She continued to bounce the ball of light as she wondered just what it was causing her to stir. Perhaps she was truly, finally, blissfully, losing her mind as she desperately wished that she would but, no, there was definitely something unusual happening.</p>
<p>She looked down as she bounced the light and realised that something was sitting on the ground right in front of her bare and calloused feet. Her eyes were being caught by a shimmering reflection with each rhythmic passing of the gentle blue light. The light was being reflected off the surface of a deep, black ink that almost looked as if it had been freshly written up the front of an envelope that had, somehow, found its way down to her at some point in time. She peered down at it with a mild interest growing in her mind; for the first time in a long time, her curiosity had began to shyly peek out from behind a closed door and stare at the strange sight.</p>
<p>It was a letter; a very fancy looking letter at that, which was strange enough on its own. Why would a letter be down here? It wasn’t here yesterday, nor the day before, as far as she was aware. Who was it intended for? It certainly couldn’t have been for her. She didn’t exist after all, and only a few misguided fools wrote letters to the ghosts who walked among the living.</p>
<p>She released her orb of light and instead reached out to pick up the letter, however she was forced to pull her hand back immediately. It was as though she had been electrocuted by the strange letter; as soon as her fingers had touched the paper she felt a rush of power and energy like she had never felt before. It was intoxicating and she could feel her entire body drowning slowly within the addictive feeling of crackling energy that now permeated the air around her. She had been lethargic and apathetic for so long that the sudden burst of life from within the letter had shaken her very mind awake. As the dust began to be brushed out from the corners of her brain, she peered down once again with renewed, and very alert, eyes.</p>
<p>She knew; this letter held a strange power that was not unlike her own. Her right palm was painfully throbbing and she held it to her face with a feeling of awe and excitement. This letter had come to her specifically, it was surely no coincidence that this letter possessed the same kind of energy that she had. No-one had placed the letter here, nor dropped it in their mailbox, nor asked Beatrice to pass it on. This letter was for her, and for her only, and it had ensured through the application of physics-defying force that it reached her. She knew it.</p>
<p>After taking a moment to steady her trembling hands, she reached down once again and slowly picked up the letter, this time avoiding any sparking of strange powers or illogical chemical reactions. She wondered for a moment if perhaps the strange sensation she had felt had merely been from her own body suddenly waking from its emotional and chemical slumber, stirring as it made contact with something that it finally recognised as a familiarity. The floating ball of light surprisingly zoomed to her head without instruction, as if it knew that this was an important moment for the girl. Perhaps the light itself was simply eager for its own purpose and place in the world. It had been there for her in her darkest moments, and she felt it only fitting that it light the way for her once again as she inspected the letter, starting with the first two words on the front.</p>
<p>“Is that...?”</p>
<p>She gasped with shock as she inspected the extravagant, flourished letters that swirled in beautiful loops across the front of the perfectly sealed envelope that she held within her small, delicate and suddenly trembling hands.</p>
<p>“... is that my name?”</p>
<p>She stared down at the two words and for once, her mind was too stunned to race wildly around her head. Why was her heart pounding so rapidly? Why did she feel so much… fear? She realsed that she was utterly terrified at the thought of those two words being her name. Yet, she already knew that it was; as soon as she read them she knew that it was her. Her fear wasn’t of the name itself, but of what it represented; she feared what it might mean to accept those two words as her own and to take on the burden of responsibility that she now suddenly felt. She found herself facing a new question that rattled through her struggling mind;</p>
<p>Do I really want to open this letter?</p>
<p>She had no answer to that question, however she could hear a strange, distant voice telling her to be brave, to be strong. She laughed a single, tiny laugh at the thought that she had finally gone mad, that she had finally succumbed to the dark. Once the first laugh broke free she found that she could no longer stop; she began to laugh loudly and wildly, with tears forming in her eyes and she struggled to breath, despite knowing that there was nothing funny about it.</p>
<p>When she would look back upon this moment many years later, she could never quite recall why she had eventually decided to open the letter. She knew only that she was glad she did.</p>
<p>The letter was an offering of acceptance to a school that apparently taught ‘witchcraft’ and ‘wizardry’, of all things. The mere notion would have been ludicrous to anyone else and would have been immediately dismissed as a poorly disguised scam or rather elaborate prank, but not her. Her heart pounded as she realised that this was what she needed. This was it; this was the answer to understanding her life and why she was here. This was her ticket to the sunlight.</p>
<p>“... term begins on the 1st of September…</p>
<p>… three sets of plain work robes (black)…</p>
<p>… the Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk…</p>
<p>… students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad…</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Yours sincerely,<br/>
Minerva McGonagall,<br/>
Deputy Headmistress.”</p>
<p>It was as though the letter had been written in a foreign language as she didn’t even understand half of what was said within it, however she clutched it to her chest regardless with tears in her eyes. There were other people out there like her! She couldn’t possibly be the devil, if there was a whole community of people out there! There was even enough to form an entire school!</p>
<p>Her burst of excitement faded as soon as it arrived, however. She had no idea where to go, or what to do. Where was this school? There was certainly no way that Beatrice was going to allow her to go or to help in any way, and she had no money, nor transport. She had nothing.</p>
<p>She slowly realised that the idea of going to the school was a nice fantasy, but that’s all it was. A fantasy.</p>
<p>Still, she at least she had the comforting letter itself and that was more than enough for her. The knowledge that she wasn’t the only one and that there were others out there like her was a bright flame of comfort within her chest. She slipped the letter back into its envolope and tenderly ran her fingers over the black letters on the front, which in perfect cursive letters formed the words;</p>
<p>Skyla Potter,<br/>
The Cage in the Cellar,<br/>
Wool’s Orphanage,<br/>
London.</p>
<p>***********************</p>
<p>Skyla (as she was still getting used to calling herself) sat within her room and continued to bounce her little ball of blue light off the wall as she sat and thought deeply. She hadn’t heard the name before, since any of the the other girls she had know were called “Sarah,” or “Hannah,” or such. She rather liked the way it rolled off her tongue and even let out a small giggle as she thought about how it was quite fun to say. She enjoyed exaggerating the second syllable and extending it out as she repeated her name to herself multiple times with an amused voice. She thought that it also looked quite nice in the fanciful, cursive characters that were on the front of her acceptance letter, though she wouldn’t have a clue about how to actually write in such a way. She wondered if the others would make fun of her if they found out what her name was, but surprisingly, she found that she didn’t really care anymore. It was a strange feeling to her, but she felt as though she had suddenly gained something back that belonged to her, something of tremendous importance. It wasn’t just a name that she had reclaimed; she had gained the beginnings of a sense of self, something that was far more important than the name on its own.</p>
<p>The positive thoughts that she was having left her running on a high for several days, however she slowly began to settle down as her thoughts once again turned to her state of being within the dark cellar. She may have a name now, and that was a tremendous comfort to her, yet it wasn’t as though she could share that fact with anyone, and it wasn’t as though that actually changed anything about her life.</p>
<p>Just as she began to fall back into her emotional slumber, a loud noise from outside the cellar caused the ball of light to drop from her hands and disappear as she sprung to her feet, like a startled deer. She could hear an unfamiliar man shouting very loudly from outside, and she could hear the sound of something being thrown and smashed outside the door. The disturbing noises got closer and closer until-</p>
<p>“THE NERVE!” an absolute giant of a man roared as he physically kicked the outer door of the cellar in, flooding her room with painfully blinding light and shards of broken wood, “THE DAUGHTER OF LILY AND JAMES POTTER KEPT IN A CELLAR!?”</p>
<p>Skyla stared in absolute shock as the largest man she had ever seen in her life tried to squeeze down into the small, enclosed space. The cramped conditions (for him, at least) seemed to only make him angrier as he aggressively demanded the key to the gate from a red-faced Beatrice who hovered in the back.</p>
<p>“Forget it!” he said angrily after waiting for only a split-second, “stand back!”</p>
<p>He reached forward and placed two hands on either side of the gate, grabbing hold of the iron bars and he pulled with a mighty heave. Skyla quickly scrambled for the back of the cellar as the stone crumbled and with absurd strength, he managed to pull the entire combination of gate and bars from their foundations. Thankfully they weren’t load bearing as they had been added after the construction of the cellar, however as the dust settled Skyla did wonder for a moment if she was moments away from having the entire orphanage collapse upon her. It was quite terrifying, as was the man who was responsible.</p>
<p>“Right then,” the man huffed with exertion as he shuffled into the cellar in a very uncomfortable looking crouch, “where you at?”</p>
<p>Skyla said nothing at all as she hugged the back wall in fear. She hoped that the large man wouldn’t be able to see her as she clung to whatever shadows she could still find, however he pulled out, of all things, a small pink umbrella and the cellar was suddenly flooded with more light.</p>
<p>“Oh…”</p>
<p>He stared at her with a shocked expression plastered on his face.</p>
<p>The girl looked terrible; she was covered in muck and grime, despite her best efforts to keep herself clean with merely tap water and she wore what could only be described as tattered rags, since the holes in her clothing were now so large that it made it hard to see where the clothing was actually supposed to end. Her long, black hair was matted and filthy, and her face was just as dirty as the rest of her body was. What truly shocked the man however was the thinness of her face and the gaunt way in which her eyes sat within her sockets. Her legs were exceedingly thin and she wasn’t much more than skin and bone in any part of her body. She hadn’t needed to use many of her muscles for a long time and so they had atrophied in a way that made him slightly ill to look at.</p>
<p>Incidentally, as her eyes slowly adjusted to the new source of bright white light, Skyla thought that the man in front of her looked very bizarre and out of place as he was so tall, wide and plump. His dark brown hair was almost as long as hers was and it was just as wild, if not more-so as it was frizzy and stuck out from his head like a lion’s mane. She wondered if he was like the stories Beatrice had once told her of Samson; she had a sudden strange urge to cut the hair and see if he lost his strength. In addition to his bushy hair, he had a large, untamed beard that obscured the entire lower half of his face. She couldn’t help but remember the exaggerated illustrations she had once seen in a children’s book of dangerous and wild looking vikings who raided coastal villages and drank endless amounts of alcohol with rough mannerisms and energetic dispositions.The man certainly looked as though he was capable of raiding a village by himself, although she couldn’t help but think a small pink umbrella wouldn’t be a vikings first choice of weapon.</p>
<p>“What have they done to you?” he asked in low voice.</p>
<p>Skyla said nothing and simply tried to process exactly what she was looking at and how her world had suddenly flipped upside down.</p>
<p>“You never replied to your letter, so Dumbledore, he… but then the address…” the man began, but he faltered when he realised that Skyla wasn’t listening to a word of what he was saying and she was staring up at him with wide and fearful eyes.</p>
<p>“I’m not here to hurt you or nothin’,” he said quickly with realisation, “look, here,” he maneuvered himself around for a moment until he awkwardly sat down on the floor in the middle of the cellar. It did help Skyla to relax; with how much difficulty he had getting himself down she was quite confident that it would take him a solid minute or two to get up again.</p>
<p>“Are you quite finished making yourself at home!?” Beatrice demanded loudly of the man in shock and anger, “who do you think you are!? Look what you have done to my door, you are barking mad if you think that I’m paying for tha-”</p>
<p>With a terrifying scowl, the large man turned around and pointed his pink umbrella at Beatrice. To Skyla’s (and Beatrice’s) immense shock, a giant wave of flames shot forth from the umbrella and Beatrice screamed loudly in fear. The flames engulfed her entirely and for a moment Skyla thought he may have killed her, however the flames vanished after a moment and Beatrice was left standing with singed clothes and burned hair, with a look of pure astonishment and fear on her face. She took a small step backwards, before suddenly turning and running away with a loud scream.</p>
<p>“Whoops, er, didn’t mean to do em that big,” the man said, though he didn’t sound like he deeply regretted the action.</p>
<p>“Anyway… I’m Hagrid,” he explained as he turned back to Skyla, “the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. You know all about Hogwarts, right?”</p>
<p>Skyla eventually found her voice, although she was still attempting to process what she had just seen.</p>
<p>“That’s this… witchcraft school, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>“That’s right,” Hagrid said with a nod, “Since you’re eleven now it means you’ll be going this year to study magic, although you’re only just barely in this batch of intakes cause your birthday is at the end of July, which is why we needed to process your entry quickly to get you in on time before school starts but when you didn’t reply to-”</p>
<p>Skyla shook her head slightly as she tried to process what was being said.</p>
<p>“Wait, I’m sorry… I’m eleven?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Uh, yeah?” Hagrid said with a slight chuckle, “what you don’t know how old you are? Forget your birthday or summin’? Be the only person in the world who did.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know what my birthday is, no-one does.”</p>
<p>He chuckled slightly as he thought that she was pulling his leg, however he slowly realised from her serious expression that she wasn’t joking.</p>
<p>“You really don’t know?” he asked seriously.</p>
<p>“Well you just said it’s the end of July, so… I guess I know that much now,” she shrugged.</p>
<p>“The 31st of July,” Hagrid said with a nod, “crazy that you don’t know that. Practically a public holiday in the magical world! And, the happiest day of your parents’ life, I’d wager.”</p>
<p>“You know my parents!?” she said with shock as she stepped forward several paces.</p>
<p>“Well… yeah I knew them,” he said blankly, “but… you know all about them, right?”</p>
<p>“Not a thing,” Skyla said, “Beatrice said they were probably drug-addicts who dumped me at the steps, it happens from time to time-”</p>
<p>“WHAT!” Hagrid bellowed loudly, causing Skyla to shrink back in fear.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry!” Skyla said quickly, though she didn’t really know what she was apologising for.</p>
<p>“You really, you really don’t know about them?” he said as he tried to lower his voice after startling her.</p>
<p>“No…” Skyla replied carefully, “… should I?”</p>
<p>“Your parents were two of the finest people who ever lived,” Hagrid said flatly.</p>
<p>“Were?” Skyla asked as she picked up on the implication, “meaning they aren’t alive any more?”</p>
<p>“No…” Hagrid said quietly, “they died a decade ago, on the night you got that scar on your hand.” </p>
<p>He pointed towards her right palm and with surprise, Skyla opened her hand and looked at it.</p>
<p>“How did you know about that?” she asked, confused.</p>
<p>“Everyone knows about tha’!” Hagrid said with a laugh, “that scar is famous. Ain’t no-one out there in the magical world who hasn’t heard of Skyla Potter or her famous scar.”</p>
<p>“Me? Why would anyone have heard of me?”</p>
<p>“Well, you were the one who brought about the fall of… You-Know-Who,” Hagrid said, though he lowered his voice at the last part, “I was there, you know. I took you back to Dumbledore after… well, ‘it’ happened. I… I might have told a few people at the pub later about what had happened, but… well, we were celebratin’, you see.”</p>
<p>“I don’t understand,” Skyla said in confusion, “who are you talking about?”</p>
<p>“I guess you’re too young to know about all of that… Well, You-Know-Who was an evil wizard and your parents stood up to him at every turn. He eventually found them and murdered them… mind you, judging by the state of the house when we found you, they put up one hell of a fight. Anyway, he tried to kill you and-”</p>
<p>“And?” Skyla asked when Hagrid didn’t continue.</p>
<p>“Well, he died,” Hagrid shrugged, “don’t think anyone but Dumbledore knows what actually happened in there since no-one saw it, but you were the reason he died. People see you are the saviour of the magical world, ya know?”</p>
<p>Skyla thought deeply about the story for a moment. It sounded unbelievable, yet she had just witnessed a giant of man rip the bars off her cellar door with his bare hands and engulf a woman in flames from a small pink umbrella, so…</p>
<p>“Who is Dumbledore?” Skyla asked, “you mentioned him a few times now.”</p>
<p>“Who’s Dumbledore?” Hagrid replied with a laugh, “why, only the greatest wizard of all time! He’s the headmaster of Hogwarts. He’s the one who sent me down here, when you didn’t reply to confirm your place at Hogwarts. Looked positively shocked when he saw the address, mind you. Never seen him make a face like that before…”</p>
<p>“I wasn’t really sure how to answer,” Skyla admitted, “I’ve never sent a letter. Besides, it’s not like I will be allowed to go anywhere so there’s not much point in accepting.”</p>
<p>“Oh don’t you worry about tha’ none,” Hagrid said darkly, “I’d like to see that old woman try and stop Skyla Potter from attending Hogwarts. Riots on her doorstep within a week, I’d wager.”</p>
<p>Skyla couldn’t help but laugh slightly, “right. Riots on my behalf, sure.”</p>
<p>“If people knew what happened here, they would definitely riot,” Hagrid said with utter confidence, “you’ll see, come on.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Your parents have had your name registered for Hogwarts since before you were born,” Hagrid chuckled, “there’s no way you aren’t attending. Now come on, we better get you… ready. I don’t really know any magic that can help with this kind of thing, but, do you have any nicer clothes?”</p>
<p>Skyla shook her head. She had only ever worn one of the old, grey uniforms and once Beatrice had locked her in the cellar, she had stopped giving her bigger clothes despite the fact that she was rapidly growing. The bizarre thing was that the uniform still fit somehow; it was almost like the clothes had expanded on their own as she grew. It was tattered and full of holes in many places, but, it provided some sense of comfort to her by at least preventing her from being completely naked.</p>
<p>“Well... I guess we can go get some muggle clothes,” Hagrid said with a furrowed brow, “that will do until we can get you properly dressed. Gotta be somewhere around here we can do that.”</p>
<p>“Muggle?”</p>
<p>“Non-magical folk,” Hagrid explained offhandedly, “like your… Matron. Now, let’s get out of here before my back is completely done for.”</p>
<p>With a sigh, Hagrid began the arduous process of extracting himself from his seated position on the ground. Eventually, with a rather awkward crouch-walk, he managed to get himself back out of the cellar. After a drawn out moment of indecision, Skyla eventually decided to run after him.</p>
<p>“That’s better!” he exclaimed as he emerged with relief into the entrance hallway and stretched out to his full (and rather impressive) height. He spotted Beatrice hovering in the back behind the stairs, where she had ushered the rest of the curious children.</p>
<p>“We’re going shopping,” Hagrid announced loudly to the woman, “she’ll be back whenever she’s back. And there better be a damn good bedroom waiting for her when she gets back. If I see any bars again, so help me-”</p>
<p>“Whatever you want!” Beatrice squeaked out in fear as she recoiled away. She definitely had no desire to invoke the ire of the man who had just bathed her in ungodly flames and pulled iron from stone as if it were nothing.</p>
<p>“Damn muggles,” Hagrid grumbled as he guided Skyla to the front door, “now, there are some mighty fine muggles out there, don’t get me wrong. But some of them…”</p>
<p>He exhaled loudly as he swung the front doors of the orphanage so hard that he broke the hinges. To Skyla’s immense surprise, it appeared to be morning and it was so bright outside that she had to shield her eyes for several minutes before they could continue.</p>
<p>“Am I dead?” Skyla asked curiously as she felt the warm rays of the sun on her very pale skin and squinted vaguely up to the sky.</p>
<p>Hagrid simply chuckled and replied, “nah... I’d say you’re just about to start livin’.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Earned in Blood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skyla was experiencing an intense sensory overload as Hagrid took her from the outer suburbs of London towards the inner city districts in the sidecar of his very powerful motorbike. He had strapped a helmet onto her head that was far too big, and given her goggles that didn’t stay on at all, but she didn’t care in the slightest as she hung out of the sidecar like a excited puppy who was on its very first car ride. She eagerly drank in the sights and sounds of the city as they passed by; a playground full of laughing children climbing on shiny play equipment, towering buses that roamed past with loud honking noises and a countless number of strangers walking in all directions. Some were clearly heading to work wearing business suits or formal skirts, while others seemed to be running in sportswear for enjoyment or bringing in the newspaper while having a joyful ‘chat’ with their neighbours. Many of the people stopped what they were doing and looked as they passed by, since the tall and wide Hagrid sitting on a booming motorbike with a small girl in the side car attracted quite a lot of attention. Hagrid didn’t seem to particularly care that everyone stared at them as they rode by, so Skyla simply shrugged and ignored them too.</p>
<p>Even as she stared out into the city with awe and inhaled the fresh air as deeply as her lungs would allow, she still wasn’t entirely sure that she wasn’t dead or dreaming. It was so surreal, and she couldn’t help the niggling suspicion that she had actually died at some point along the way. The sun was simply too warm and comforting upon her cold and pale skin, the air was astonishingly fresh to her lungs that had only ever breathed in the stale, lifeless scraps that filtered through the walls and the sky was such an unbelievably bright blue and so endlessly expansive that she realised there was no way any of it could be real. She must have either died or finally gone insane, although she wasn’t entirely sure which one was the superior option between the two.</p>
<p>She eventually came to the conclusion that even if she had died or lost her mind, this was still far more preferable to living in the cellar, so she might as well enjoy it while it lasted.</p>
<p>Eventually Hagrid pulled into a car park and stopped his motorbike directly outside the entrance to a rather trendy department store. A few muggles looked at him with scowls on their faces while muttering scathing words under their breath as the large and rough-looking Hagrid got off the bike while a ragged Skyla climbed out of the sidecar, however none were brave enough to actually approach the giant man about his rather creative choice of parking. Many muggles returned to their overpriced sports cars that day with strongly worded complaints to their wives or girlfriends (or both) about the decrepit state of their proud country and the filth that was ruining it for everyone.</p>
<p>Oblivious to the devastating plight of the wild muggle, Hagrid and Skyla entered into the building and Skyla was immediately overwhelmed with the sights and sounds that struck her as she walked in. Several screens at the front displayed a variety of strange images and she could hear music playing, though she didn’t know where from as it seemed like it was all around them. There were so many brightly coloured clothes on display and the first floor of the building seemed to be entirely dedicated to clothing and accessories. She was sure she could easily spend all day looking at the pretty dresses and brightly coloured T-shirts if they had the time to spare, which she doubted that they did. Some pieces of clothing were almost painfully colourful and were quite astonishing, while others had some sort of picture on the front with a message or a logo for brands that Skyla didn’t recognise. She didn’t know how she felt about those ones, but all of the clothing was a long way from the tired, old, tattered uniform that she was currently wearing, that was for sure.</p>
<p>Hagrid approached a young woman in a store uniform who was organising a few clothes on a free-standing display, while Skyla happily stood there and looked around with interest at anything, and everything.</p>
<p>After a short discussion, the staff member eventually walked over to Skyla with a kind smile on her face. She was fairly young herself and had deep brown hair that was neatly tied back behind her head, with thin glasses on her face that gave her a gentle look.</p>
<p>“Hello, Skyla,” she said softly, “my name is Olivia. Your… ‘teacher’… said that you need some help in looking a little more presentable.”</p>
<p>“Hello,” Skyla replied with a little shyness to her voice. She was feeling quite overwhelmed already and this was the second stranger that she had to speak with today, “I… I’m meant to start school soon.”</p>
<p>“Oh, are you starting secondary this term?” Olivia asked with a smile, “it’s quite a big step up, but I’m sure that you will love it.”</p>
<p>There were several things that Skyla didn’t fully understand about what the woman had just said, but, she simply nodded along anyway.</p>
<p>“Well, how about we do something to get this hair out of the way first?” she offered kindly, “then we’ll make sure you have some nice clothes for when you make all of your new friends.”</p>
<p>On the list of strange experiences that Skyla had endured during her life, this was certainly up there as one of the oddest. Olivia gave her hair a quick brush before tying it back and guiding her to a changing room, where she was repeatedly passed several items of clothing over the door. To Skyla’s surprise, there was a large mirror in the changing room and for the first time in many years, she looked at her own reflection intently. </p>
<p>As she stared at her frail body, even she thought that she looked very skinny and rather unpleasant to look at, and she could see why Hagrid had wanted to get her appearance sorted. When she thought about the various other people that she had seen in the store so far, she realised that she looked very worn and ratty in comparison and she began to feel quite guilty about having forced Hagrid to be seen with her. Olivia managed to provide a constant distraction from her thoughts however as the woman bombarded her with all manner of clothing.</p>
<p>“... this one is cute, don’t you think…?”</p>
<p>“... hm I think those two clash a bit, lets try something else…”</p>
<p>“... Oh, it’s called a training bra and you wear it under your shirt, you see…”</p>
<p>“... These trainers are very popular, both stylish and comfortable…”</p>
<p>“... hm, let’s try another colour, you have such pretty eyes that I think we should build around that…”</p>
<p>When Skyla had finished popping in and out of the changing room, after dressing and undressing many times, she finally emerged for the last time to reveal her new look.</p>
<p>“Look at you!” Hagrid said fondly, “completely different!”</p>
<p>She truly did look completely different after her miniature make-over. Her long black hair was tied back in a simple ponytail and held in place with a dark green scrunchie. She had a simple, clean white T-shirt with a colourful splash of green that traversed over the shoulder and a plain black skirt that complemented her hair. She had dazzling white trainers on her feet and Olivia had also given her a white training bra to wear under her shirt, along with fresh cotton underwear and socks that she had voluntarily ripped from the packet and given to the girl. She figured that if Skyla’s outer clothes were in such a state of disrepair, then, she didn’t really want to think about the rest. She’d buy the girl some underwear and socks herself if she had to.</p>
<p>“How do you feel?” she asked Skyla with a warm smile.</p>
<p>“I… I feel… human,” Skyla said quietly.</p>
<p>Olivia chuckled, “I’ll take that to be a good thing, then. You can throw away your old clothes in the bin over there, unless you want to keep them. I can take the tags off the clothes you are wearing to scan them.”</p>
<p>Skyla most certainly did not want to keep her old clothes and she found it rather cathartic to dispose of them, with perhaps a little more aggression than most people tended to have when they put things in the rubbish bin.</p>
<p>In addition to the clothes that she was wearing, Skyla had collected a stack of various T-shirts, skirts, shorts and trousers that Olivia had said she looked good in, along with plenty of clean undergarments and a few different hair-ties in assorted colours.</p>
<p>“Alright, all done?” Hagrid asked cheerfully.</p>
<p>“All done!” Olivia replied with a smile, “shall we go to the registers and put it through?”</p>
<p>“Do people normally register their clothes?” Hagrid asked curiously.</p>
<p>“You don’t do much shopping, do you?” Olivia laughed.</p>
<p>Skyla realised as they approached the registers that all of her new things would require payment. This was a problem as she severely doubted that she had enough money for them, seeing as she had no money at all. She had been so caught up in the whirlwind of the department store that she hadn’t considered how she was actually going to pay. A sense of dread rose within her; with how long the woman had spent helping her, how could she possibly turn around and suddenly say she didn’t have any money? She would feel utterly awful and she already felt guilty enough as it was.</p>
<p>“Hagrid,” Skyla whispered in a panic, “I don’t have any money.”</p>
<p>He simply chuckled in response.</p>
<p>“Oh don’t you worry about tha’,” he said happily, “now, how much is this stuff?”</p>
<p>“... one hundred and ten pounds, sixty five pence for the lot,” Olivia replied after working the final price out from the packaging and the tags she pulled from Skyla’s clothing, “and worth every penny, I assure you. It’s all excellent quality.”</p>
<p>Hagrid dug into his pocket and fished out a handful of notes with a little confusion at the currency.</p>
<p>“Is this enough?”</p>
<p>He gave the handful of notes to the assistant, who stared down in shock at the fistful of cash.</p>
<p>“This… this is more than enough,” she said as she realised that he had given her a multitude of fifty pound notes, “in fact… this is way too much…”</p>
<p>“Oh? Well, then keep whatever is left for your help,” Hagrid said happily, “you certainly earned it.”</p>
<p>“There’s no way that I could-”</p>
<p>“I insist,” Hagrid said with a nod, “you’ve been very helpful. Now, we best get on with things, a lot to do today and time’s tickin’.”</p>
<p>“Wait, I can’t accept thi-”</p>
<p>Hagrid wasn’t listening as he picked up the bags of clothes and guided Skyla back to the motorbike with her purchases in hand.</p>
<p>“She was nice,” he said airily as they departed the store, leaving behind the flustered assistant who was still holding more money than her entire weeks worth of pay. </p>
<p>“Alright, next stop, The Leaky Cauldron,” Hagrid said fondly, “and a good thing too; getting a mite thirsty. Gotta be near lunchtime already. Hold these for a sec, would ya?”</p>
<p>He handed the bags to Skyla while he dug around in his pocket, eventually taking out a small key that he used to open a compartment on the back of the side-car. He took the bags back from Skyla and placed her new purchases in the compartment for safe keeping, before sealing it once again with a satisfying ‘click’.</p>
<p>“Where did you get all that money?” Skyla asked as she climbed back into the side-car once again.</p>
<p>“You don’t think I earned it with hard work?” Hagrid teased slightly as he sat down on the motorcycle and the entire frame dropped several inches.</p>
<p>“Oh, no I didn’t mean to imply-”</p>
<p>“I’m just kiddin’,” he said with a chuckle, “Dumbledore gave me some muggle money in case I needed it. Got a few more notes somewhere if we need it, but we’ll be back in the magical world soon and we’ll be right from there. Now pop that helmet back on, there’s a good girl.”</p>
<p>The two departed with a loud roar of the exhaust, which caused more angry scowls from the surrounding muggles, and they were soon dodging and weaving their way through traffic as they headed into the heart of London, heading for ‘The Leaky Cauldron’. From the name, Skyla had been expecting to find some kind of strange ‘witches coven’ that was down a dark lane and populated by shadowy figures who had two heads and large warts on the tip of their noses. What she hadn’t been expecting to find was a simple little pub that looked rather poor and run down, with a broken sign out the front and old windows that were covered with so much dust it was impossible to see anything through them.</p>
<p>“Don’t let the look deceive you,” Hagrid said knowingly as he parked the bike out the front, “second best mead you’ll find in all of Great Britain here.”</p>
<p>“Second best?”</p>
<p>“Aye,” Hagrid said with a slight grin, “only cause the best has to be served by Rosmerta.”</p>
<p>Skyla didn’t understand, but simply nodded along anyway.</p>
<p>“Hello Tom,” Hagrid said airily as he led the way into the pub while Skyla quietly shuffled in behind him.</p>
<p>“Hagrid!” the bartender called back cheerfully, “the usual?”</p>
<p>Skyla couldn’t help but stare at the bartender; he had a large, hunched back and beady little eyes that followed their every move. He hadn’t addressed her at all, however he was clearly aware of her presence as he inspected her for a moment with a deep, appraising look.</p>
<p>“Oh… go on, just a quick one,” Hagrid said as he sat down at the bar, as if he hadn’t been planning on having one this entire time.</p>
<p>“What brings you around today?” Tom asked as he began to pour a pint of Hagrid’s preferred mead.</p>
<p>“Hogwarts business,” Hagrid said with a knowing tap on his nose.</p>
<p>“Hm… who’s this little one, then?” Tom asked as he peered over the counter and down at Skyla. She looked to Hagrid, but Hagrid said nothing and simply looked at her with a small smile.</p>
<p>“I… I’m… Skyla Potter,” she said slowly, as if she didn’t quite believe it herself.</p>
<p>“Merlin’s beard,” Tom said quietly as his eyes flicked down to her hand and lingered on her open palm, held loosely by her side. The pint he was filling began to overflow into the sink, to Hagrid’s great dismay, however Tom had forgotten all about it entirely. In defense of the mead, Hagrid leaned over and snatched the drink from his hand, using his own sleeve to wipe the side with a small huff at the wasted liquor.</p>
<p>“THE Skyla Potter…? Could it be…?” Tom quietly spoke in wonder.</p>
<p>“Did you just say Skyla Potter?” two older men with strangely coloured hats wandered across from their stools and looked between her and Tom repeatedly, “surely you jest?”</p>
<p>Their eyes wandered down to her hand and spotted the distinctive star-shaped scar on her palm. Skyla immediately closed her fist self-consciously as soon as she realised what they were looking at, however the damage had been done.</p>
<p>“By Merlin it IS her…” the first man said in awe, “she has the scar and look, she even has Potter’s hair. Remember? He had dark hair too, black as night-”</p>
<p>“Aye,” the second one agreed excitedly, “and look, those green eyes! She would look just like her mother if you gave her red hair…”</p>
<p>“Welcome home, Skyla Potter,” Tom said directly to her, cutting across the two excitable old men, “I’ve been waiting to say those words for a very long time.”</p>
<p>“Skyla Potter…?”</p>
<p>“... ‘the’ Skyla Potter…?”</p>
<p>Murmurs and whispers ran throughout the small group of daytime drinkers that were suddenly beginning to encircle her. It was a little intimidating and Skyla backed up slowly from the advancing crowd towards Hagrid, who was sitting on his stool and watching on with a knowing look.</p>
<p>“Bless you Skyla,” an old man with a rather flamboyant purple suit said tearfully as he walked up, “we owe you so much.”</p>
<p>“Oh… um… you don’t owe me anything-”</p>
<p>“My condolences for you loss,” another man said who approached from the rear of the pub.</p>
<p>“I… didn’t lose anything-”</p>
<p>“We’re all here now because of what you did, your bravery…” an older woman said as she joined the group, “Merlin’s beard, Skyla Potter…”</p>
<p>“I didn’t do anything-”</p>
<p>Skyla wasn’t sure what to do, so she simply looked to Hagrid for help, who chuckled slightly and downed the rest of his pint.</p>
<p>“Alright, that’s enough of you lot!” Hagrid said loudly with a slight belch, “lots to do. Can’t have her out here signing autographs all day!”</p>
<p>“Oh, Merlin’s balls!” One of the old men swore, “I should have brought a quill! Anyone got something she can sign for me-”</p>
<p>“Dedalus!” Tom reprimanded, “I will not have you swearing in front of The Girl-Who-Lived.”</p>
<p>A few angry murmurs permeated the group in his direction and Dedalus held up his hands in surrender, while Hagrid chuckled and escorted Skyla away from the group.</p>
<p>“To the Potters!” One of the men said as he raised his beer in her direction, causing a small rallying cheer to carry around the pub as everyone raised their drinks in response.</p>
<p>“That was bizarre,” Skyla said to Hagrid as he led her out the back into a small, empty courtyard.</p>
<p>“Told you, you’re famous,” Hagrid said, “you best get used to that response. You’re gonna see it a lot.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t even do anything though,” Skyla pointed out, “nothing that I remember doing anyway.”</p>
<p>“Don’t matter,” Hagrid said with a shrug, “not to those who remember. We remember how it used to be, back then. Back in the dark days… no matter how you did it, you brought our world back into the light and those who lived through it won’t ever forget that, or forget you.”</p>
<p>He frowned for a moment, before shaking his head to clear the thought.</p>
<p>“But, no more of that dark talk here,” Hagrid said as he forced a smile back on his face and took out his pink umbrella. He tapped three very specific bricks on a rather ordinary looking brick wall and Skyla was astonished to see the wall suddenly begin to mould and change before her eyes. The bricks rotated of their own accord and begin to retreated back into each other, pulling away from the center and leaving an open archway in the middle.</p>
<p>“Welcome… to Diagon Alley,” Hagrid said proudly as he held out his hand in a sweeping motion.</p>
<p>Beyond the enchanted archway that separated the magical and muggle worlds, Skyla could see a bustling, busy street that was full of life and vigor. Groups of families walked from store to store while vendors peddled their wares on the street with catchy slogans and bold claims of never-before-seen effects. The sudden bombardment of noise startled Skyla, but she continued to stare down the alley with a growing sense of awe. The shops looked utterly magical; many of them had moving signs and displays that repeatedly performed colourful demonstrations of their products in action, while others had enchanted advertisements that quite literally grabbed the attention of the customer by reaching out and tapping them on the shoulder. It was chaotic and wild; there was so much noise and activity happening before her eyes that part of her felt a sudden, bizarre urge to run back home and lock herself in the dark cellar. Yet at the same time, she was in awe of the unusual place and she almost felt a giddy sense of excitement at the idea of running through the alley and looking at all of the strange and wonderful things on display.</p>
<p>“Now, before we get you any of your school stuff, we best visit Gringotts and get some money,” Hagrid pointed out, “that’s the bank, the white building down the end there.”</p>
<p>“Alright, but I don’t know how I’m going to pay for-”</p>
<p>“Like I said, don’t worry,” Hagrid said with a slight smile.</p>
<p>The bank was on the opposite side of the alley which meant that Skyla got to have a brief look at many of the strange displays in the windows along the way. It was all very fascinating and she couldn’t believe just how bold and busy everything was; it was as though every possible product or shopfront was competing to be the loudest, the most colourful or the most obscure. Unlike the grey and desolate world that she had known within the orphanage, this world was full of constant noises, sound and colours yet the people didn’t seem to bat an eyelid at the excitement and merely busied themselves from one shop to the next, deeply absorbed within their own needs and wants.</p>
<p>“Here we are,” Hagrid said as they reached the large marble building that had ‘GRINGOTTS’ written on the front in big, bold letters made of what appeared to be solid gold. Skyla thought that it was rather absurd for anyone to throw that much gold into writing their business name out the front in such an elaborate display of wealth and excess, even if it was a bank. She briefly wondered if anyone had ever tried to steal the golden letters, but since they were still there, she figured that there must surely be a reason that no-one had made off with them yet.</p>
<p>They stepped inside and unlike the chaotic, whirling crowds in the street outside, the inside of the bank was neat, orderly and exceptionally clean. The tellers sat behind elevated marble desks that towered over the customer, and Skyla was intelligent enough to realise why when she saw the various staff members walking around. They were all exceptionally short, with sharp, pointed ears and all possessed a variety of skin colours, ranging from an almost human pink to a few that were very dark green.</p>
<p>“Goblins,” Hagrid whispered quietly to her, “very temperamental, but excellent with numbers. And spears.”</p>
<p>“I guess they want to remind people who is in charge,” Skyla whispered back as she pointed between the very tall desks and the obvious presence of rather dangerous looking weapons that lined the walls behind them.</p>
<p>“Well spotted,” Hagrid said, rather impressed at her perceptiveness, “goblins have a very… complicated history with magical folk. A lot of bad blood there.”</p>
<p>“But they control the money? And magical people don’t mind that?”</p>
<p>“Well... like I said… complicated history.”</p>
<p>They stopped talking as Hagrid led them up to the front counter where a goblin was stamping pages on an unknown document.</p>
<p>“Hello,” he said cheerfully to the goblin, “got someone who wishes to claim a family account.”</p>
<p>“And that would be?” the goblin asked, without looking up at them as he continued to work.</p>
<p>“Skyla Potter.”</p>
<p>Apparently she was famous among goblins too, as a chorus of whispers suddenly rang out among the staff and she spotted a few goblins running off into other rooms, presumably to tell other goblins about who had just arrived at their bank. She shook her head in disbelief at the sight; it was just simply unnerving for so many people to know her name when she had only just learned it herself.</p>
<p>The goblin before them however didn’t seem to have quite the same reaction as the others, though he did stop his stamping to peered down at the two.</p>
<p>“And does Miss Potter have her key?” the goblin asked pointedly.</p>
<p>“Ah, no she doesn’t,” Hagrid said quickly, “her parents had the key you see, and no-one knows what they did with it, but you can get her a new one, can’t you?”</p>
<p>“Perhaps,” the goblin said as sat back and peered down at her right hand, “if she is who she says she is.”</p>
<p>After a moment, the goblin turned around and whispered quietly to someone behind him, who immediately ran off through a side door. A minute later, a different goblin emerged and walked around the front desk to visually inspect Skyla. He had quite dark green skin with intense, jet black eyes and he intimidatingly stared at her for a moment, before he eventually jerked his thumb in the direction of a side-door to their left, clearly indicating for her to enter it. </p>
<p>Skyla shrugged and she began to head over towards the door with Hagrid in tow, however the goblin held up a hand, causing them to stop.</p>
<p>“Only she can verify her identity,” the goblin said firmly to Hagrid, “you must wait out here.”</p>
<p>“Are… you gonna be okay alone, Skyla?” Hagrid asked with concern.</p>
<p>Skyla shrugged hesitantly, “ I… guess... this doesn’t, uh, hurt or anything does it?”</p>
<p>“Only at first,” the goblin said with a vindictive grin as he bared his teeth and lightly pushed the now much more concerned Skyla into the room before closing the door behind her.</p>
<p>Skyla’s head was swimming with images of strange torture devices, iron chains and all manner of creative contraptions that her over-stimulated imagination generated as she entered, however she was surprised to see that inside the room was merely a marble desk with a few chairs and some parchment in the middle with a black quill resting on top.</p>
<p>“Sit,” the goblin instructed as he indicated toward one of the customer chairs, while he moved around to the other side of the desk and sat on a slightly taller chair. The almost petty action amused Skyla, despite her concern about her current predicament. She sat down in her allocated seat and waited patiently for him to continue.</p>
<p>“Before you is some parchment and an enchanted quill,” he said dryly, “you simply need to write your name at the top of the parchment and the enchantments will do the rest.”</p>
<p>“That’s it?”</p>
<p>“That’s it.”</p>
<p>With a shrug, Skyla took the strange quill and, using it as she would a ballpoint pen, she started writing her name in shaky letters.</p>
<p>“Ow...!”</p>
<p>She felt a sharp pain on the back of her hand and she was surprised to see that blood was appearing on the page instead of ink. She quickly realised that several small, shaky cuts had appeared on the back of her hand which perfectly matched the letters that she was writing.</p>
<p>“Oh? So that’s how it works…?”</p>
<p>The goblin leered at her for a moment, however in the end she shrugged slightly and continued. It was a little painful, but it wasn’t actually all that bad. She watched with fascination as she continued to write out her name, and in her own handwriting the cuts formed a messy, ‘SKLYA POTTER’, on her hand. It began to rapidly heal as soon as she stopped writing, and she almost felt a little disappointed at having the words fade from her skin.</p>
<p>She placed the quill down when she was finished and the goblin picked up the parchment, inspecting it closely.</p>
<p>“Do I… need to do anything else?” Skyla asked hesitantly.</p>
<p>“Merely review your assets,” the goblin said as he handed the parchment back to her. She looked at it and to her surprise, words had appeared on the page below her writing.</p>
<p>
  <b>Personal Details</b>
</p>
<p><b>Name</b>			<br/>Skyla Potter.<br/><b>Date of Birth</b>			<br/>31st July, 1980.<br/><b>Biological Parents</b>		<br/>James Potter, Lily Potter (née Evans).<br/><b>Personal Status</b>		<br/>Head of House Potter (emancipated minor).<br/><b>Account Status</b>			<br/>Active, paid in full.<br/><b>Blood-Status </b>			<br/>Half-Blood (Potter).</p>
<p>
  <b>Assets</b>
</p>
<p><b>Vault(s)</b>				<br/>687 - Net Value (re-count required).<br/>921 - Net Value (N/A).<br/>[redacted]<br/><b>Property	</b><br/>Potter Cottage, Godric’s Hollow.<br/><b>Investment Portfolio	</b><br/>Sleekeazy's Hair Potion (90%). <br/>Flourish &amp; Blotts (40%).<br/>Twilfitt and Tatting's (30%).<br/>Quality Quidditch Supplies (20%).<br/>Honeydukes (20%).<br/>The Three Broomsticks (10%).</p>
<p>“I don’t understand what a lot of this means,” Skyla admitted with a shake of her head. </p>
<p>“You are the last remaining member of House Potter,” the goblin explained, “thus, you became emancipated under goblin law when you turned eleven to ensure the survival of your house and the continuity of business.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Skyla said with a nod.</p>
<p>“... I still don’t understand what that means.”</p>
<p>“You will be treated as ‘matured’ by goblins and the bank, for better… or for worse,” he said with a small, vicious looking smile that showed his sharp fangs.</p>
<p>“Humans have their own laws about such matters,” he added with a shrug of indifference, “but that matters little to us. When it comes Gringotts’ gold, our law is absolute.”</p>
<p>“Now,” he continued, “your accounts have been kept active through the automatic subtractions of our account keeping fees that your parents established. If you wish to cancel the automatic subtraction you may do so, but you will be responsible for ensuring that the appropriate fees are paid on time.”</p>
<p>“I… whatever you think I should do?” Skyla said, unsure. She was feeling incredibly overwhelmed and she didn’t really understand what he was saying. She had once found a fifty-pence coin and she had struggled for weeks about what to do with it.</p>
<p>“It would be logical to maintain the automatic subtraction,” the goblin said flatly, “the rest is a listing of family assets, which have all flourished healthily within the last ten years due to a booming post-war economic growth, and your mother’s particularly sharp investments.”</p>
<p>Skyla’s head was reeling as she tried to process what any of that actually meant. The goblin used words that she had never heard before and she found that she could do little more than nod along in confusion.</p>
<p>“I think it best that we show you to your vaults,” the goblin said, “you can withdraw some money if you desire while you are there too.”</p>
<p>“O-Okay…”</p>
<p>It was all very confusing and Skyla didn’t feel particularly connected to any of it. The strange words and numbers meant nothing to her and the only thing that she had paid any attention to on the parchment had been the names of her parents, listed below her own. Seeing her own name next to theirs had made everything sudden feel very real, and very daunting. She didn’t know what she had expected when she came into the bank, but it hadn’t been this. Her head spun painfully as she tried to process any of it.</p>
<p>She was so distracted and lost in thought as they left that she was hardly even aware they had regrouped with Hagrid and were taking some very strange mine-carts down into the underground levels of the bank, guided by the goblin as he directed the cart at a ludicrously high speed. To Skyla, it hardly felt any different than being in the side-car of Hagrid’s motorcycle, yet he looked extremely uncomfortable and rather ill as they aggressively zoomed down along the extremely thin small rails.</p>
<p>They arrived at their first destination and Hagrid had to take a moment to hover nauseously over the side of the cart. Skyla was okay however, and so she stepped out onto the platform with the goblin.</p>
<p>“Vault 687,” he announced as he ran his long finger down the center of the vault entrance, which caused the many locks and gears to start turning and twisting loudly behind the solid iron doors. The doors slowly pulled apart in the middle to reveal an exceptionally large vault that Skyla was able to walk into, though she hardly had any space to move around. Within the vault were towering piles of gold coins that formed an almost endless sea of wealth. It was an utter mess, yet the swarm of money was up to her shoulders in height and she could have easily swum in the coins if she had so desired.</p>
<p>“The vault requires a re-count,” the goblin said as he shuffled some coins out of the way with his foot, though more simply fell back from the pile in their place, “but that required authorisation as it will cost you to do so. Your dividends over the years have been dumped here by the vault staff and, as you can see, there is no requirement for the private exchange of gold to be stacked neatly or tidily, it merely need be the correct amount, with the Gringotts fee deducted.”</p>
<p>He kicked some of the gold with his foot in attempt to push it back into the pile, however all he succeeded in doing was spilling more over the floor in front of them.</p>
<p>“There has been a lot of coin placed in here over the years,” he added, unnecessarily.</p>
<p>Skyla thought that he seemed rather annoyed as he looked around at the vault. Perhaps it was simply the fact that it was messy, while the rest of the bank was spotlessly clean and efficient.</p>
<p>“I would certainly recommend a re-count,” he said as he looked around distastefully.</p>
<p>“Sure, go ahead,” Skyla said with a shrug. She felt more like it was his money than hers as she didn’t even know it existed until now. She didn’t really mind what he did with it and she privately wondered if she might prefer to not have to deal with it at all.</p>
<p>“Very well, I shall organise it immediately upon your departure,” he said in an almost happy tone. Well, as happy as any goblin was capable of sounding.</p>
<p>“You should take what you’ll need for today,” Hagrid, who had finally recovered, said as he rejoined them and peered into the overflowing vault with awe, “do you mind if I take the replacement for the muggle money we spent earlier to give back to Dumbledore?”</p>
<p>Skyla shook her head, “take whatever you want. Really, please do.”</p>
<p>She was surprised when Hagrid only picked up a small handful of coins and stashed them in his pocket.</p>
<p>“You don’t want some more?” Skyla asked.</p>
<p>“That’s plenty,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.</p>
<p>“What are these even worth?” she asked as she picked up a gold coin and inspected it. It was quite heavy for a coin and it did have a rather nice feel to it as she weighed in her hand.</p>
<p>“One gold galleon is worth 21.43 pounds stirling at the current muggle exchange rate for gold by weight,” the goblin recited flawlessly, “and one galleon is worth 17 silver sickles, while 1 sickle is worth 29 bronze knuts.”</p>
<p>Skyla furrowed her brow as she tried to process the numbers. It had been a long time since she had done any math practice.</p>
<p>“There must be millions of pounds in here then,” Skyla realised eventually, “why is there so much money? Where did this all come from?”</p>
<p>“The Potter family is an old family that has been building this vault for generations,” the goblin pointed out, “and your parents added their own sizable wealth to the vault after your father’s parents died and he became Head of House, not long before you would have been born. In addition, your mother was a clever investor and co-developer of a range of magical products, to which she took shares in the business instead of outright pay.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t know that part,” Hagrid said in surprise, “I thought Lily made and sold potions.”</p>
<p>“She did,” the goblin said, “in addition to investing and consulting on the side. She was in high demand for her charms expertise and enchantment abilities. I distinctly remember them arguing within my office over whether she should take direct gold or business shares as payment for her work. Businesses were failing across the country and shares were being sold off left and right due to the war. She insisted however and it paid off, once the economy had begun to rebound following the defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. She was certainly very clever and she was a pleasure to work with.”</p>
<p>Skyla ignored the complicated business matters and instead asked about the main thing that had gotten her attention.</p>
<p>“You knew my parents?”</p>
<p>“I have managed the Potter accounts for my entire matured life,” the goblin said flatly, and Skyla almost thought she could hear a sense of pride in his voice.</p>
<p>“That’s really cool…” she said with a smile, “what’s your name?”</p>
<p>The goblin blinked for a moment before replying, “Krylk is my face-name.”</p>
<p>“Face name?” Skyla queried.</p>
<p>“The name given to me by Gringotts so as not to scare customers with my earned name,” he sneered slightly.</p>
<p>“Earned name? I don’t understand,” Skyla said apologetically, “sorry…”</p>
<p>“Goblins must earn their name through a great trial or notable deed when they reach maturity,” Krylk explained, “either through combat in the arena or through war against our enemies. Since we have not been to war in some time, most earn their names through the arena, although there are more nameless among us now than there ever has been before in goblin history.”</p>
<p>“I know what it is like being nameless,” Skyla said quietly, “and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I sometimes think it is worse than dying.”</p>
<p>“Indeed,” Krylk said with some surprise in his voice at her words, “it is truly a tragedy for a goblin to live their entire lives as a nameless. A glorious death is far better than a nameless life.”</p>
<p>“What is your earned name?” Skyla asked curiously. She kind of liked the idea of earned names, as devastating as it might be to not have one. At least with an earned name, it wasn’t up to someone else whether you had one or not.</p>
<p>“Bleeding Eyes is my earned name,” he sneered slightly with a rather sadistic grin that showed his sharp fangs, “for the tears my final arena opponent wept when I tore out-”</p>
<p>“Alright that’s enough!” Hagrid said quickly, looking almost as green as Krylk, “she’s too young to hear stuff like that.”</p>
<p>Skyla wasn’t overly concerned however. If that was his name, that was his name; only made better by the fact that he had earned it himself.</p>
<p>“I think that’s a great name,” Skyla said, surprising him, “if that’s the name you earned, then it’s the name I will call you, Bleeding Eyes. You are not nameless and you shouldn’t be treated as such.”</p>
<p>He stared at her in astonishment for a moment, however he eventually bared his teeth and gave her a genuinely smile after that, which was almost more terrifying than his dangerous looking sneer that he had displayed earlier.</p>
<p>After filling a moderately sized coin purse that Bleeding Eyes had provided for her, he led them onward to the next vault, number 921. Inside this vault there was no gold; instead, as the vault doors peeled away and revealed the contents, Skyla found an assortment of strange items scattered all around the vault, seemingly organised by category due to the small, hand written signage next to each pile. The items didn’t look particularly valuable or overly interesting as most appeared to be things like walkers for young children, tricycles, free standing mirrors, hair brushes and more.</p>
<p>“This was a vault opened to house your mother’s experiments,” Bleeding Eyes explained, “she was working on adapting muggle products and technology for the magical market, though I believe she ran out of time before she could complete her projects.”</p>
<p>“This all belonged to my mother?” Skyla asked in awe as she slowly walked over to one of the piles of odds and ends.</p>
<p>“Some of it is unchanged and harmless,” he said, “but some of it is experimental or potentially dangerous. I would advise you not to touch anything until it has been certified by a consultant, which Gringotts can provide… for a price.”</p>
<p>Skyla nodded and left the items alone, although it wasn’t as though she had intended to disturb anything anyway. Instead, she walked over to the small little signs that were propped up against wooden frames in front of each pile, as if they were an artist’s easel. They certainly felt like precious artwork to her as she slowly ran her fingers over the parchment of one of the signs, and carefully inspected the beautifully constructed words. She knew that this had to have been her mother’s writing as she doubted that anyone else would have created such beautiful signage for what was likely perceived by most as mere rubbish or waste products. From the little that she knew of goblins so far, they didn’t strike her as an overly artistic culture. Her mother had flawless handwriting and each letter was crafted lovingly with long loops and delicate flourishes that made even the simplest of words a wonderful expression, full of vibrant personality. Skyla knelt down in front of one of the signs and gently traced a long flowing ‘L’ with her own finger. She felt tears begin to form in her eyes as she imagined her mother kneeling in the very same place, though she knew not what she looked like, using ink and a small, thin brush to carefully write out the signage for her passionate projects that no doubt had big, expansive plans.</p>
<p>Skyla had never felt a particularly strong desire to know who her parents were before. She had been mildly curious, of course, but something about kneeling where her mother knelt and tracing the letters she had drawn out years ago made Skyla’s heart yearn painfully in a way that she didn’t know was possible. She felt a sense of sudden loss for the first time in her life as she realised that she would never be able to speak with them about any of this. She would never see how her mother constructed her perfect brush strokes, nor ask her father about how any of the vaults worked. A single tear dropped down onto the old, tired parchment in front of her as she rested her forehead against the frail wooden frame and tried to stop herself from completely falling apart.</p>
<p>“We need to keep moving,” Hagrid said regretfully after a few minutes, “you can always come back here another time.”</p>
<p>Skyla sniffled slightly and nodded, eventually getting back to her feet with a soft sigh. A handkerchief appeared beside her and she took it appreciatively, although surprisingly it was Bleeding Eyes who handed it to her without looking at her.</p>
<p>“Thanks…” she said quietly, though he didn’t quite meet her gaze.</p>
<p>“We goblins do not have family in the same way that you do,” he said to her as he gazed off absently into the vault, “but we do understand loss and grief better than perhaps anyone.”</p>
<p>He turned to her and finally met her emerald green eyes with his own. His black eyes burned with a malice that Skyla had never seen before, and she could feel a wave of intense emotion radiating from his core.</p>
<p>“Turn your pain into anger and your loss into vengeance. Defend the names of those who died earning them.”</p>
<p>She stared at him in surprise for a moment, however he said nothing more and returned to the cart in silence, waiting for her to gather herself and rejoin him.</p>
<p>After another high-speed cart ride, with Skyla finding herself completely disoriented and utterly lost, they arrived not at the main entrance as she had expected, but at a third and final vault. Hagrid was so nauseous by this point that he simply hung over the side of the cart and heaved his pint of mead down into the depths below.</p>
<p>Bleeding Eyes opened the vault door that had nothing more than the number ‘4’ on the front and, surprisingly, he revealed what appeared to be a completely empty vault. As Skyla stepped forward and peered around in the empty space however, she noticed that there was a single letter lying on the ground; a single sealed letter, that looked absurdly out of place as the only thing in the large vault.</p>
<p>“Your parents opened this vault in secret,” he explained quietly to Skyla, “they paid a hefty sum to ensure that it was protected with the most secure enchantments that money could buy, and your mother added her own on top of our own extensive warding. It took our vault staff six months to build and ward, and they no longer remember constructing it. No eyes but your own will penetrate this vault and only myself and the director know its location. If we die, its location will be lost with us.”</p>
<p>“All of that, just for a letter?” Skyla asked curiously.</p>
<p>“I have no idea of the contents within the vault,” he said with a shrug, “it was not my place to know, only that the vault upkeep is paid for and that the vault remained secure.”</p>
<p>“You don’t know what’s in here? But… it’s right here.”</p>
<p>“I see only a few stacks of gold, a few pieces of mediocre artwork and some family heirlooms,” he replied, “exactly as intended. I imagine your friend sees much of the same. It looks completely and utterly uninteresting to me.”</p>
<p>Skyla stepped into the vault with awe and picked up the lonely letter, which had her name on it in the exact same handwriting that she had just tearfully traced. She thought about opening it on the spot, but she decided to take mercy on Hagrid and allow them to finally leave the deep underground labyrinth which was clearly giving him no end of trouble, physically and mentally. She emerged from the vault with the letter in hand and Krylk offered her small backpack that he had, once again, managed to pull from nowhere.</p>
<p>“You can store any amount of items in this bag,” he explained briefly, “it is bottomless and impervious. It will be useful for holding your gold and your shopping.”</p>
<p>“Oh?” </p>
<p>Skyla peered down into the bag, but she only saw an impenetrable darkness inside.</p>
<p>“That’s… pretty cool!”</p>
<p>She slipped the letter into the backpack along with her coin purse, before placing the bag on her back and tightening the straps to fit.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” she said, giving Bleeding Eyes a fond smile.</p>
<p>“Not a problem,” he replied airily, “I’ll charge it to your vault, along with the handkerchief. And the tour. And the history lesson.”</p>
<p>Skyla ogled him for a moment, until she eventually realised as he bared his teeth that he was making a joke. She couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head slightly at him in response, although it wouldn’t be until much later in life that she realised just how rare the interaction she had with the goblin had been, and that she had just joined a very exclusive list of magical people who held something no amount of wealth and influence could ever truly buy; a goblin’s respect.</p>
<p>“Alright, let’s get out of here,” she said with a sigh, “I think Hagrid is going to pass out.”</p>
<p>“Don’ worry ‘bout me…” Hagrid groaned out quietly, “I’ll… I’ll be right…”</p>
<p>Despite his words, he seemed positively relieved when they had finally said farewell to Bleeding Eyes and departed the bank. He eagerly gulped in the fresh air as colour returned to his face and a renewed sense of energy radiated through his body.</p>
<p>“Right,” he eventually said as he slapped his face lightly, “now that’s over with… let’s go get your school stuff. We still got a lot to get done today.”</p>
<p>Skyla shrugged and let him lead the way, with her overflowing coin purse at the ready and a large shopping list still to be obtained.</p>
<p>It had been quite the productive day and for the first time in her life, she felt as though she may just have a place within the world after all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. A Small World</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skyla and Hagrid had burned through a significant portion of their available daylight by the time they had finished at the bank, so the two were slightly hurried as they began their magical shopping. They certainly had enough time to get everything done; however they still needed to be mindful of the gradually setting sun that was slowly, but steadily, making its way down towards the horizon.</p><p>Shopping in the magical world turned out to be a significantly different experience for Skyla than what she had experienced with her (very limited) muggle shopping. Unlike the anonymous crowds that filtered through London without a word, it seemed that most of the people in the magical world were very familiar with each other and most witches or wizards regularly stopped to greet old acquaintances or work colleagues along the way. The people in the alley all wore strange and brightly coloured robes and some even wore tall, pointed hats with striking patterns or prints upon them. Some of the strangers even spoke to her occasionally; offering casual warm greetings in passing or asking questions about her well-being, though they did not ever seem to wait for an answer.</p><p>Skyla was in awe as they made their way through the various shops in the alley and browsed through all that they had to offer; large pewter or iron cauldrons for brewing potions (which, for an extra charge, could be conveniently shrunken down for transport), strange insects and unusual plants that were used as ingredients for exotic potions, glass phials and scales of all sizes along with strange tools that were used in ‘alchemy’, whatever that was. She even saw a shop that exclusively sold broomsticks, of all things, though they didn’t enter it as it wasn’t required for first year students (in fact it was the complete opposite and first year students were not allowed to own their own brooms).</p><p>“Right, we’re making good progress now,” Hagrid said as he squinted up towards the sun to roughly gauged their remaining time, “I think we can afford to stop for a spot of lunch.”</p><p>From the way that Hagrid was licking his lips and looking in the direction of The Leaky Cauldron, Skyla suspected that it wasn’t purely food that he was interested in, but she said nothing about it as she followed him back through the magical barrier into the pub.</p><p>“Done already?” Tom, the bartender, asked as he spotted them walking back in from the rear courtyard.</p><p>“Just hoping that you haven’t closed the kitchen yet,” Hagrid said eagerly, while guiding Skyla over to a table in the corner.</p><p>“Well for Miss Potter, the kitchen here is always open,” Tom said with a smile.</p><p>“Oi, what about me?” Hagrid asked indignantly.</p><p>“You still haven’t paid off your tab,” Tom pointed out.</p><p>“Ah well, you know…” Hagrid said airily. Tom just rolled his eyes slightly.</p><p>“What would you like?” Tom asked Skyla, “anything you want, Sam can whip it up for you. Isn’t that right?” he called out behind him.</p><p>A noncommittal grunt came from somewhere out the back.</p><p>“Well in that case, I’ll have-” Hagrid began.</p><p>“Not you,” Tom said briskly, “you can have a bowl of chips until you actually pay off your tab. Now, what’s it going to be, dear?”</p><p>“Oh…”</p><p>Skyla hadn’t been prepared for such a question, so she defaulted to the easy way out.</p><p>“I’m… not hungry… thank you…”</p><p>Her stomach rumbled loudly at the mere thought of food and Hagrid raised a questioning eyebrow toward her.</p><p>“But, I mean… if you have an apple that you don’t mind parting with…” Skyla added after a moment.</p><p>“An apple?” Tom scoffed, “that’s not a meal. Look at you girl, skin and bones. SAM!” he shouted suddenly, “give her the works! And make it special!”</p><p>“I’m meant to be finis-” a gruff sounding man began to call back, but Tom cut him off.</p><p>“Just do it!”</p><p>A few grumbles came in response, to which Tom and Hagrid both chuckled at. The grumbling murmurs made Skyla feel absolutely awful however and incredibly wracked with guilt.</p><p>“I’m so sorry!” she said, feeling rather ashamed of herself, “I didn’t want to cause any trouble. I really don’t need anyth-”</p><p>“Huh? Oh, don’t worry about him,” Hagrid said dismissively, “I’ve known Sam for years. Grumpy old bugger but he’s got a heart of gold really. Same with Tom.”</p><p>The two sat in silence for a time as Skyla shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Thankfully, she still had a coin purse full of galleons so she could at least pay for it all, even if the money still didn’t really feel like it was hers. The purchases so far had all felt so impersonal as she was simply buying things off a list that she didn’t make, for a school that she didn’t really know, with money that she didn’t understand. Sitting in a pub and buying an afternoon lunch however felt very different as it felt more like a personal expense; something unnecessary or selfish, that Skyla was not used to in the slightest.</p><p>“What’s on your mind?” Hagrid asked, noticing that she was very distracted. She had no idea how to put any of her thoughts and feelings into words however.</p><p>“It’s all just… a bit overwhelming,” she said quietly.</p><p>“Well, we’ve only got a few more things to get,” Hagrid said kindly, “then we’re finished.”</p><p>“That... that doesn’t make me feel a lot better,” Skyla admitted, “I… I’m not looking forward to facing Beatrice.” Her heart began to race at the thought of the confrontation that was no doubt waiting for her when she got home. Part of her just wanted to bury her face into the worn and tattered chair and never leave.</p><p>Hagrid frowned slightly at her obvious discomfort, but said nothing further about it.</p><p>Eventually, the mysterious Sam arrived and brought out their food. He was quite a large man, not as large as Hagrid, but still quite tall with a large belly that protruded out through his grimy apron that looked as though it may have once been white in colour. He had a poorly kept beard (that looked to be more due to a lack of regular shaving than any adherence to a particular style) and he looked a little rough and dangerous, however Skyla was distracted from all of that by the plates and bowls of food that he was floating out towards them with his wand in hand.</p><p>“What is…?” Skyla began in confusion.</p><p>He floated the half-dozen plates and bowls down onto the table that were all filled to the brim with piping hot food. Skyla had never seen anything like it before and she curiously stared down at the strange assortment of items, none of which she recognised.</p><p>“This, this is too much…” Skyla said in shock.</p><p>“Hm? Ah d’n worry ‘bout it,” Sam said with a sniff, “I hear that we did well pretty well today ‘cause of your arrival.” He indicated to the booths on the far side of the pub where a group of old men were snoozing softly in their seats, surrounded by empty mugs and pint glasses. It appeared that her former cheer squad had continued their celebration and ended their own party rather early from a very excessive amount of alcohol.</p><p>Sam retreated back into the kitchen without another word and left Skyla staring down at the food before her. Her mouth was watering in a way that she didn’t know it could, and the smell was invading her mind and overwhelming her conscious thought with a delirious giddiness. Each plate had something different on it; one plate had two, thick, juicy-looking cuts of steak that were both steaming slightly into the air while another had two positively gigantic burgers that Skyla knew she would never be able to fit into her mouth. There were bowls of salty deep fried chips, crispy roasted vegetables coated in herbs, thickly battered onion rings, and even a large bowl of very creamy-looking pasta that had bacon, cheese and two large forks twisted into the middle. Skyla didn’t even know what most of the food was; she was almost content to just simply look at the display in admiration as she didn’t even know food like this existed in the first place.</p><p>“I thought I was just gettin’ a bowl of chips?” Hagrid asked Tom who had wandered over with a pint of mead in one hand and a glass of a strange orange liquid in the other.</p><p>“Yeah,” he said seriously as he pointed out the bowl of chips, “see? That one is yours. The rest is hers.”</p><p>“She’ll never eat all of that.”</p><p>“Well, whatever she does with the rest is up to her.”</p><p>“Told you, heart of gold,” Hagrid said fondly to Skyla as he reached forward and picked up the pint of mead with eagerness while pushing the other strange drink in her direction. Skyla was still slightly confused as to the interactions between Tom and Hagrid; she didn’t understand the two at all, but then, she didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with human interaction to fall back on.</p><p>Without touching anything, Skyla took out her coin purse and began picking out coin after coin.</p><p>“I’m sorry for troubling you,” Skyla said quietly as she held out a fistful of galleons to Tom, “is this enough to cover all of this? I have more if you need it.”</p><p>Tom waved her off however.</p><p>“Ah, I’ll hear none of it,” he said airily, “you’ll never pay me a coin in this establishment, Miss Potter.”</p><p>Before she could protest any further, he had departed and shuffled his way back behind the bar, where he continued to wipe down the counter with a small, self-satisfied smile on his face.</p><p>“Gon’ get cold,” Hagrid indicated towards the food from around his own mouthful of burger that he had already dug into.</p><p>Skyla carefully picked out one of the hot chips from the bowl and sniffed it like a wary fox, to Hagrid’s amusement. It smelled salty and it was quite warm in her hand, so with small, careful bites she nibbled lightly at the end of it. The end was crispy, crunchy and it had a satisfying texture as she nibbled away with a growing sense of euphoria. She was surprised when she got to the middle to find that the inside was quite soft and fluffy, which contrasted nicely with the crunchy exterior.</p><p>“This is delicious!” she exclaimed.</p><p>“It’s just a chip,” Hagrid laughed.</p><p>It wasn’t just a chip to Skyla however, it was a brand new experience and she excitedly picked away at the various plates and bowls of food, taking a little of everything and trying it. She needed some help with the steak as she wasn’t sure how to go about cutting it, and she stuggled to figure out how to get her pasta onto her fork, but when she did… it was heavenly. She didn’t know whether all the food here was this good, or whether it was just Sam’s food that was this good, but she adored it either way.</p><p>Due to her constant state of near starvation, which her magic had only just barely managed to compensate for, it didn’t take long until she was feeling fuller than she had ever felt in her life, despite having only had a tiny portion of what was available.</p><p>“Go on, have some more,” Hagrid said encouragingly, as she stopped eating and sat back.</p><p>“I couldn’t eat anything else,” Skyla said with a shake of her head, “that’s more food than I have ever eaten at once. I think I’m going to burst.”</p><p>Hagrid blankly stared at her following the statement, since she hadn’t eaten very much at all.</p><p>“Alright,” Hagrid said with a hesitant shrug, “well, if that’s the case…”</p><p>He polished off the rest of the food in her stead, while she watched on with surprise at the sheer volume of food he could consume at once.</p><p>While Hagrid ate the rest, she sipped lightly on her strange drink. It was very sweet; far too sweet for her, but she appreciated it all the same. She wouldn’t be inclined to drink it regularly and she probably would have rather been given a glass of water, however she was certainly wasn’t going to bring it up and she had no desire to ask for anything more when she had already been given so much.</p><p>“Okay, Hagrid said after he polished off the last morsel, “just gotta use the men’s and then we can head on.” He got to his feet and gave Tom a nod as he walked past, which caused a sudden thought to appear in Skyla’s mind.</p><p>“Mr Tom, sir,” she said as she approached the bar once Hagrid had departed.</p><p>“Just Tom, my dear,” he said with an amused smile.</p><p>“Oh, sorry. Well… I know you said you didn’t want any money,” she said quietly, “but do you think I could at least pay whatever it was that Hagrid owed you?”</p><p>“Oh, that. I just like making fun of him,” Tom laughed, “I don’t actually mind about all of that. He’s been a good friend for years, I’d give him a few pints even if he didn’t pay it back.”</p><p>“I’d still like to pay it,” she said insistently, “at least for his sake. Please.”</p><p>Tom peered at her curiously, but in the end he simply shrugged at her desperate expression, “if you insist.”</p><p>Skyla grabbed her coin purse and began dumping gold coins onto the counter, however Tom simply plucked out a few and pushed the rest back across to her.</p><p>“Done, all even,” he said with a smile.</p><p>“That’s it?” Skyla asked incredulously.</p><p>“He owed a few pints,” Tom laughed, “he didn’t buy the property.”</p><p>Skyla shook her head at the strange currency and the odd concept of wealth that magical people had, however she at least felt slightly more comfortable now that she had given something back, even if she still didn’t feel it was ‘all even’ at all.</p><p>“Alright, ready to continue?” Hagrid asked as he returned, to which Skyla nodded. With a brief farewell to Tom, the two headed back out into the alley for the remaining items on their list, though both were walking slightly slower due to their well-fed state of being.</p><p>“Now, this one over here is where you’ll get your wand,” Hagrid said as he pointed out a rather unassuming shopfront, “you go on inside, this is somethin’ you’ll have to do on your own, but Ollivander will look after you. I got something that I need to do while you’re in there anyway.”</p><p>He clasped her briefly on the shoulder before turning and heading off down the alley. With a slight shrug, Skyla stepped through the old, worn door that chimed gently as she entered.</p><p>No-one appeared to be inside upon her entry, and she looked around to find that it was a rather small and desolate shop that was slightly unclean. A thick layer of dust was visible upon the counter and a few scattered cobwebs in the corners gave the building an almost abandoned feeling. If there was anyone here, Skyla couldn’t see them and she wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that no-one had been inside within the last fifty years, judging by the state of disrepair. A small chandelier hung overhead, however only a few of the candles were lit and it simply made the place feel more eerie with the soft, gentle orange glow, since the windows were so covered with dust and grime that they hardly let any light into the building at all.</p><p>“Hello?” Skyla called out hesitantly.</p><p>No-one responded at first, however after a moment an old, frail man with wispy, grey hair and a rather worn face peeked out from around the corner at the back of the shop, appraising her through his thin, half-frame spectacles.</p><p>“Ah…”</p><p>He stopped what he was doing out the back and slowly made his way to the front counter with a rather unreadable expression on his face.</p><p>“Skyla Potter… the time has come at last, I see.”</p><p>“You know me?” Skyla asked in surprise. It was obvious that most people in the magical world knew her name, however she had quickly realised that if she hid the distinctive scar on her hand, people didn’t seem to recognise her from her face alone. All except for this strange old man.</p><p>“A spitting image of your mother,” the man, who must have been Ollivander, said with a knowing look, “the same confused eyes that reflect a deep pain. The same posture that screams of loss and burden. The same energy that hides something deeper, something… different.”</p><p>“Uh…” Skyla wasn’t really sure what he was saying, but then, she was starting to get used to that feeling by this point.</p><p>“Hold out your dominant hand,” he instructed. With a shrug, Skyla complied.</p><p>“Left-handed, hm?” he said with a hint of surprise, “interesting.”</p><p>She hadn’t been gifted with many chances to practice her writing, not since the early days of Beatrice’s home schooling. Even when she had been writing, she had very quickly learned not to let Beatrice see her using ‘the devil’s hand’, or her pencils and crayons would be quickly taken away. She had never understood why it had been so bad to use her left hand for things but it simply felt more natural to her this way. Bleeding Eyes hadn’t said anything at all about her using her left hand when she had written her name, yet this old man seemed rather fascinated by it; it must have been a human thing she realised and she unconsciously withdrew her hand at the reminder of how different she was to everyone else, in every way. He had seen all that he needed to see however since he turned away to rummage through the shelves, while a measuring tape appeared and did a rather good job at distracting her, since it was floating around and taking all kinds of measurements on its own that seemed very unnecessarily and irrelevant. What possible use could the distance between her nostrils serve?</p><p>“Chestnut and dragon heartstring,” Ollivander said as he handed her a long, thin wand made of a very smooth and clean wood, “ten and a half inches.”</p><p>She took the wand from him and simply stood there in confusion.</p><p>“Well? Give it a wave,” he instructed idly.</p><p>She loosely waved the wand in no particular direction and the counter in front of her proceeded to burst into large flames.</p><p>“Aguamenti,” Ollivander said in an unconcerned tone as he casually doused the flames with jets of water that poured forth from his own wand, while Skyla backed up quickly in shock.</p><p>“I’m so sorry!” Skyla exclaimed with despair as he extinguishing the flames, although once the flames had disappeared, it turned out they had, surprisingly, caused no visible damage at all.</p><p>“Think nothing of it,” Ollivander said absently, apparently lost in thought. He disappeared to the back of the shop and Skyla very carefully put the wand down on the counter as if it were an explosive waiting to detonate.</p><p>“Red Oak and unicorn hair,” he said as he handed her a different wand, “nine inches.”</p><p>She very reluctantly took the slightly shorter, maroon coloured wand and gave it a small wave. Nothing happened at all this time (to Skyla’s relief) and Ollivander simply took it back with a frown.</p><p>“Hm… I wonder…”</p><p>He departed and once again returned with another wand in hand, however that was even worse than the first one. As soon as Skyla took it from him, she let out a yelp of pain as the handle burned her hand and she was forced to drop it entirely.</p><p>“Curious,” he said, seemingly to himself, “I thought that one might… given the circumstances… well, no matter…”</p><p>He continued to hand her wand after wand that either had a disastrous effect when waved, or no effect at all. He seemed to be growing frustrated as he began to work his way through some of his rarer stock, though even those did not have the desired effect. </p><p>“Maple and unicorn hair!”</p><p>The bright, almost orange coloured wand did little other than shoot a small tuft of smoke into the air.</p><p>“Sycamore and dragon heartstring!”</p><p>The light green and slightly jagged wand refused to co-operate, and to Skyla’s shock seemed to jump right out of her hand of its own accord.</p><p>“Applewood and phoenix feather?” he asked questioningly, sounding slightly desperate by this point, “ten inches. An old project of mine; imported wood with very strange properties… not unlike the girl in front of me, I suppose.”</p><p>Skyla thought that this wand was definitely the prettiest of the wands so far, at least. It was a soft, pastel pink that had been sanded and worked down into a very smooth and clean texture, with a detailed and precise coating applied to the outer wood that gave it a gentle shine whenever the dim candlelight in the shop reflected off the surface. Where Ollivander had gotten the wood, she didn’t know, but she adored the colour and the obvious detail that had gone into its making.</p><p>It was when her fingers closed around the smooth handle of the delicate piece of refined wood, however, that she knew.</p><p>“It’s this one,” she said immediately, without even needing to wave it at all. The wand felt incredibly exhilarating to hold in her hand as she could feel the charged currents of magic crackling through her fingertips. She had felt something loosely similar before; when she had first touched the letter from Hogwarts, however this was a feeling on an entirely new level. She had felt a small shock at the touch of the Hogwarts letter due to her body suddenly reacting to the unfamiliar magic, however this magic felt very familiar and it felt as though she had known and used this wand her entire life. Shivers ran up her spine as her body tingled and physically responded to the strange calling of the wand. She inspected the wand in her hand with curiosity, sensing that the magic emanating through it was vastly different than the kind of magic she had been doing on her own thus far. Feeling rather adventurous due to the sudden rush of euphoria and finding an odd sense of trust in the beautiful wand, she decided to wave it.</p><p>At first it seemed that nothing was going to happen, just like the other wands, however Ollivander and Skyla both let out matching gasps of surprise as the messy and dusty shop suddenly began to spring to life before their eyes. The dust on the counter began to whirl itself into a neat little pile in the corner, the cobwebs were blasted away by an unknown force, the various wands that she had tried thus far suddenly floated in the air before packing themselves neatly into their boxes and even the few indoor plants on the windowsill that were looking limp and lifeless began to brighten and look rather vivacious and lively. The windows set about cleaning themselves and by the time the room had stopped moving itself around, it looked like an entirely new shop; the comforting afternoon sun was streaming in from the outside through the now flawless windows and Ollivander almost looked slightly blinded by the sudden flood of warm light.</p><p>“Woah,” Skyla said softly, “I didn’t know I could do that.”</p><p>“Very unexpected,” Ollivander admitted, “that is magic well beyond the usual experimentation of children. A single spell cast in confusion, fear or anger is very common, but to use several advanced spells at once…?”</p><p>He peered at her intently and she could almost feel his eyes burning straight through her own.</p><p>“It seems that your mother’s talent for charms resides within you as well,” he said slowly, “I expect great things from you.”</p><p>Skyla shifted uncomfortably in front of him while he simply stared at her, before eventually clearing her throat in an attempt to move on.</p><p>“How much do I owe you for this one?” she asked as she clutched the light pink wand to her chest in a protective manner.</p><p>“Hm, I’m not quite sure just yet,” he said thoughtfully, “as I said, it was a bit of an experimental project that I constructed years ago and I hadn’t expected to sell it until now. Phoenix feathers are exceedingly rare of course, but I was interested to see how they would react with the unusual wand wood.”</p><p>Skyla reached into her bag and pulled out a fistful of galleons that she spilled out onto the counter.</p><p>“Will this do?”</p><p>Ollivander stared at the money on the counter in surprise.</p><p>“Yes, I suppose that will do,” he said regretfully, although the way he immediately begun to scoop the coins into his hands suggested that he may not have actually been all that upset about the sale.</p><p>“Do I need anything else?” Skyla asked as he counted up his coins, “or is that it?”</p><p>“Oh of course there’s more my dear, there’s a whole range of accessories you can buy to go with your new wand,” Ollivander said eagerly, “made by yours truly. I’d recommend a holster and a cleaning-kit. The cleaning kit ensures that you don’t accidentally discharge any magic while caring for your wand and the holster attaches to the inside of your off-hand for easy access. You just place the wand in reverse, like so- and then you can draw it quickly as needed. In addition, you can also purchase…”</p><p>After a brief demonstration, and a significant amount of up-selling, Skyla stashed her new wand into her holster that wrapped around her right forearm with a sense of satisfaction. There was a definitive sense of comfort and reassurance that came from having the wand pressed against the inside of her arm and Ollivander pointed out that when she is wearing robes, which were typically long sleeve, she will have an edge over anyone who has to dig around for their wand between the layers of the billowing and flowing clothing. Those few seconds could be crucial and Skyla could ensure that she always had the edge by merely needing to draw her wand out from her wrist at any moment.</p><p>“That is, of course, if worst comes to worst,” Ollivander added, “and I do hope that you never find yourself in such a situation.”</p><p>She was grateful for the additional items and she was in love with her new wand already, however she was starting to feel rather fatigued from the strange old man and she was quite eager to move on. She paid for her accessories and with a final look at the unusual wandmaker, she exited the shop to find Hagrid waiting outside.</p><p>“All done?” </p><p>“Yeah,” Skyla said absently, still a little lost in her thoughts, “he’s… a bit strange, isn’t he?”</p><p>“That he is,” Hagrid chuckled, “but there aren’t any better wandmakers in the country. Perhaps in all of Europe. Go on, let’s see it then!”</p><p>Skyla revealed her wand and Hagrid gave a low whistle of approval.</p><p>“I haven’t seen a wand that looked like that before,” he said curiously, “that looks pretty rare. Make sure you don’t lose it.”</p><p>“How come you don’t use a wand?” Skyla asked as she stashed her wand away and they headed for their next destination.</p><p>“Ah, well… technically I’m not supposed to use magic,” he said quietly.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“I was expelled when I was at school,” Hagrid said with a dark look, “and they snapped my wand.”</p><p>“Who did? The school?”</p><p>“The Ministry,” Hagrid explained, “The Ministry of Magic oversees our laws and use of magic. They have the power to arrest, imprison or snap the wand of anyone in the magical world, if they are convicted in the Wizengamot. Since I had no magical family and I hadn’t finished school, I couldn’t keep my wand.”</p><p>“Can’t you just buy another one?” Skyla asked, not really seeing the problem.</p><p>“I would be arrested if they knew I was using one,” he said sadly, “I’m not allowed to use magic at all. I don’t really need magic to do my job at the school anyway, but… it would be nice…”</p><p>“That seems cruel,” Skyla said with a frown, “to be in the magical world but not be allowed to use magic. You have to look at something you can’t have every day.”</p><p>“Ha! Well, you say that now,” Hagrid chuckled slightly, “but you aren’t allowed to use magic outside of school either, once you start your first day. You’ll be in the same boat as me.”</p><p>“But I’ve been using magic already?” Skyla asked, confused.</p><p>“Accidental magic is different,” Hagrid pointed out, “when you are young you are allowed a bit of leeway until you start school. After that, you can be expelled like me if you use magic at home.”</p><p>“Is that what you did?”</p><p>“Well, not exactly,” Hagrid said evasively, “but, let’s not talk about such things today.”</p><p>“Oh. Okay.”</p><p>“Come on, let’s get your books.”</p><p>Skyla’s favourite shop of the day was, without a doubt, the incredible bookstore that they visited to obtain her school books. Unlike the strange and disturbing wand shop, which had been sombre and eerie (until Skyla had unwittingly decided to change things), this one was still quite full and lively as people popped in and out with armfuls of all kinds of books. The bookstore itself wasn’t overly large, yet it wasn’t small by any accounts either; it was a two-story building that had a wide, open staircase to their left as they entered, and both floors were filled with rows and rows of books. Thick leather-bound textbooks, small and dainty journals, feature-length hardcover novels, shrunken pocket-guides; they were all to be found within the bountiful supply of endless knowledge held within the colourful rows that Skyla excitedly rummaged through.</p><p>“This looks really interesting!” she said as she eagerly picked up one of the novels, “‘The Adventures of Cane Wright and his Hell Hounds’. Sounds intense!” </p><p>“Oh, this could be really useful,” she mused as she inspected a thick and slightly dusty textbook, “a thousand spells that you never knew you needed… how am I going to know if I need them otherwise? I better get it…”</p><p>“A guide to magical beasts?” she considered thoughtfully, “some of these look dangerous. This could be useful to have, especially since I don’t know much about this world…”</p><p>Hagrid watched on with amusement as Skyla happily browsed the many books that were available, her arms steadily filling with book after book.</p><p>“Are you opening a library?” Hagrid joked as he eventually helped Skyla take her school books, and her personal selection of books, to the front counter.</p><p>“I love books…” Skyla said quietly, “I would buy the whole shop if I could.”</p><p>“Well you probably can…” Hagrid pointed out, “… and you basically have.”</p><p>Skyla gave him a slightly sheepish smile as she fished out her coins to hand to the assistant. She was starting to get more confident with this shopping business, although she still handed the assistant far too many coins. She happily tucked the many books into her backpack, already thinking about how she might hide them to protect them better than the books she had once let down…</p><p>“So it’s just robes left,” Hagrid said as they left the store. Thankfully, Skyla’s bag was still holding steady and she didn’t notice the weight at all, although she moved her coin purse to separate pocket to ensure that she could actually find it. She was quite impressed with the very useful bag and she wondered privately just how many coins that Bleeding Eyes may have charged the Potter vault for it. Not that there was any shortage of money within her vault and it had already proven to be extremely useful. She was now, finally, starting to understand just how much money was actually available to her as she had bought so many things, yet her coin purse still had a decent weight to it, and that was without taking into account the absolutely overflowing vault that was likely being cleaned up under the eager supervision of her account manager.</p><p>“There’s either Madam Malkin’s or Twilfitt and Tatting’s,” Hagrid mused aloud, “most people go to Madam Malkin’s since it’s cheaper but there’s no doubt that Twilfitt and Tatting’s are the better quality, just more expensive. Although that’s not really a problem for you now, is it?”</p><p>Skyla just shrugged, “I guess I won’t be able to come back here very often will I? So I should probably get the better quality stuff, right?”</p><p>“A reasonable point,” Hagrid said with a nod, “they do need to last you all year. Although I suppose you can always mail-order something if you really need it at school.”</p><p>Twilfitt and Tatting’s turned out to be quite a fancy boutique on the inside, however the mediocre looking outside didn’t do well to represent the stunning interior. Most shops on Diagon Alley were made of wood and stone, with archaic styles of construction and more than a few pieces of architecture were clearly only held together with the use of magic. Twilfitt and Tatting’s seemed to be one of the only shops that had embraced tiling and modern construction materials, which led to the inside appearing very sleek and shiny from the white tiled floors and minimalist interior design. Ironically, the shop was frequented by the rich and the elite within the magical world, yet the interior design seemed to be based upon the layout of high-end muggle stores. Perhaps it was because the noble elite were so far removed from the muggle world that they would never know the ‘creative’ designs (both of buildings and clothing) were being borrowed from the very people they often despised.</p><p>At first Skyla thought that they might be only customers in the shop, however she spotted two women standing in the corner, apparently waiting for someone who was changing inside of a small, curtained off area. Skyla and Hagrid walked over towards them, since they both figured that one of them must be the staff member.</p><p>“-amount of muggleborns,” one of the women was in the middle of saying as they approached, flicking her long blonde hair in apparent annoyance, “increasing every year. Very soon there will be none of us left, and all of our traditions and history will be lost forever.”</p><p>“Oh yes, hm, I see,” the assistant replied in a placating tone. She was of a similar age, however she had shorter brown hair and while the first woman carried herself with elegance and dignity, the assistant looked rather tired and perhaps a little bored of the conversation.</p><p>“Mother this doesn’t fit at all, it’s far too tight!” A boy’s voice huffed loudly from inside the changing room.</p><p>“Well come out and show us, I can’t do anything from out here,” the woman with the blonde hair (and the boy’s apparent mother) called back.</p><p>The boy emerged from the changing room and Skyla was surprised to see that he had strikingly blonde hair, just like his mother’s, although much shorter in length. He was quite a handsome boy really, however the scrunched and annoyed look on his face did his appearance no favours as he emerged and pointed down towards himself.</p><p>“Look!”</p><p>His mother inspected the boy and his black robes closely, however she merely tilted her head slightly at the sight.</p><p>“Look’s alright to me,” she said after a moment, “the stitching could use a lot improvement and the fabric is clearly on the cheaper side of things but, what can you expect from Diagon Alley. You have to be accepting of some things here, Draco, as distasteful as it is.”</p><p>“Well I certainly-”</p><p>The boy stopped talking as he noticed the presence of Hagrid and Skyla standing slightly in the back.</p><p>“A GIANT!” He suddenly exclaimed in a very loud voice, “in Diagon Alley? Aren’t your kind illegal? How grotesque!”</p><p>The women turned and were both startled at first by the presence of the large man behind them, however the boy’s mother seemed to recognise Hagrid and her initial surprise turned into a sneering and disdainful look.</p><p>“I didn’t know you sold to rabble like this,” she said with an exaggerated sniffle, peering down her nose at the pair, “and what is this… thing, Hagrid? Find another creature to adopt? You always did choose bizarre pets.”</p><p>Draco cackled with laughter at his mother’s comment, though Hagrid swelled with anger in response. Skyla simply watched on in confusion, not really sure why everything had turned so hostile, so quickly.</p><p>“Don’t you dare speak of her like that,” Hagrid warned angrily, “she’s worth a thousand of you, Narcissa Malfoy, and not just in money.”</p><p>“I highly doubt that,” Narcissa sneered in response, “she’s clearly muggleborn and she looks like she hasn’t eaten in weeks. Are you even feeding your new pets or do you just leave them to starve? Do I even call the aurors on you two, or should I call animal control?” </p><p>Draco guffawed loudly as he stared down at Skyla’s thin frame with obvious disdain, causing the girl to step behind Hagrid in embarrassment. </p><p>Hagrid seethed with anger and he drew himself up to his (intimidatingly) full height as he said, “you can say what you want about me, but there are two people you don’t insult in front of me. This girl right here is one of them.”</p><p>“What makes her so special?” the boy asked as he walked over and stood beside his mother, “she’s just a mudblood, isn’t she?”</p><p>“She’s no-one, Draco,” Narcissa said quickly as Hagrid stared at them in shock, “they are both no-one. Let’s just get out of this dump before we have to wash out their stench.” She took out a few coins and roughly pushed them into the assistant’s hands.</p><p>“See that the additional robes are actually mailed to the right address this time, won’t you?”</p><p>Narcissa appeared to suddenly realise that she had immensely angered a seven foot half-giant that she was currently inside a building with, so she wisely guided Draco around Hagrid’s gradually inflating frame and quickly darted for the door.</p><p>“You… you…” Hagrid said as his voice trembled with anger. They didn’t wait however and quickly ran off, sensing his impending explosion of outrage.</p><p>“What was all that about?” Skyla asked, feeling rather baffled and out of the loop.</p><p>“The Malfoys,” Hagrid scoffed angrily, “they think they’re so much better than everyone else because they’re what’s known as ‘pureblood’; people with magical ancestry that they can trace back for generations. It’s all codswallop. There wasn’t anyone who didn’t start as a muggleborn at some point anyway, even when you go way back. I can’t believe they said that, though…”</p><p>“They’ve said much worse than that before,” the assistant said with a sigh, “but despite their criticisms they always shop here and always spend a lot of money, so I can’t really afford to anger them. It’s frustrating, but there’s not much I can do about it. Well… anyway… how can I help you?”</p><p>So far, the magical world had seemed to be made up entirely of sunshine and rainbows to Skyla, however between the strange behaviour of the goblins, the elitist nobles that she had just seen insulting her and the strange laws regarding the management of magic, she was starting to get an idea that maybe there were a lot of things happening in the magical world that went far beyond the surface image. Still, it wasn’t as though she was any stranger to being insulted so she brushed it off very quickly and easily, unlike Hagrid who took quite awhile to calm down. The shop assistant was quite sympathetic however and she did a very good job of calming Hagrid down (while also upselling more than a few additional items at the same time). Skyla ended up walking away with several sets of robes in different colours (in addition to her black school robes), as well as dragonhide gloves, dragonhide boots and a variety of accessories that she got talked into. </p><p>“It’s soooo cute! It goes with your wand too! That’s super adorable!” </p><p>“Oh that matches your eyes, you look much older and more mature with that!”</p><p>Perhaps the Malfoy order had been nothing but boring, simple clothes, as once the assistant had discovered that Skyla liked bright and colourful clothing, she had almost become more excited than Skyla was. In the end, she spent far more gold than she had anticipated on clothing, although given her personal stake in the stop it was, at least, theoretically discounted (not that she considered that in any way).</p><p>It was with a bittersweet feeling that Skyla walked back down the alley for the final time towards The Leaky Cauldron, knowing that her adventure had come to an end and it was time to return to the orphanage.</p><p>“This has been wonderful,” Skyla said quietly to Hagrid as they reached the magical barrier, “very strange and completely overwhelming, but wonderful. Thank you.”</p><p>Hagrid chuckled, “oh, it’s not over just yet.”</p><p>Skyla looked at him questioningly, but he said no more as they walked back into the pub once again.</p><p>“Ah, Tom,” he said happily, “is everything all sorted?”</p><p>“All sorted,” Tom said with a nod, “here you go.”</p><p>Tom handed a key to Hagrid who took it with a grin, before he turned and handed it to a surprised Skyla.</p><p>“And… here you go,” he said in a satisfied voice.</p><p>“Huh?” she asked in confusion.</p><p>“Third floor, room nine,” Tom said with a mischievously smile.</p><p>“... Huh?”</p><p>“Everything is ready for you,” he said, “it’s all yours until you leave for school in September.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Skyla asked.</p><p>“Hagrid explained your situation,” Tom said with a nod towards Hagrid, “he said that there was some trouble at home or something like that. Well, I won’t let Skyla Potter live unhappily in the muggle world, not while I have a roof and a bed to spare. I can’t offer much in terms of living conditions; the pub can be noisy and busy sometimes, but I can offer a safe and secure room with regular meals. From the sound (and look) of it, that’s more than what you’ve been getting, at least.”</p><p>“... is that what you were doing when I was getting my wand?” Skyla realised as she turned to Hagrid.</p><p>Hagrid grinned slightly, seemingly quite pleased with himself, “I was going to go and get you something else for your birthday present but… this seemed like a better idea. Unless you want to go back of course, you don’t have to stay he-”</p><p>He stopped talking as Skyla impacted with his side like a missile, wrapping her arms around him as far as she could reach in an attempt to hug the large man. Her eyes had begun to fill with tears at the thought that she didn’t need to go back to Beatrice and the cellar; she had been so worried about how she would possible return to that life after discovering that all of these wonderful things were awaiting her in the magical world. She never wanted to leave again and even if it was a cardboard box in the corner of the bathroom, she would gratefully live in it if it meant being able to stay in this place. Hagrid patted her gently on her head as she sobbed softly.</p><p>“I have a whole vault of gold,” Skyla eventually mumbled out to Tom, “you can have it all-”</p><p>Nonsense,” Tom said with a smile, “the entire magical world owes you their lives. If not for you, the children of this generation would have all grown up in a far worse environment than whatever you did, I can assure you. You don’t owe me a single coin.”</p><p>“I… I promise I won’t be a bother at all, you’ll hardly hear from me and I don’t need much, you can put me anywhere you want and-”</p><p>“Relax,” Tom said gently, “it’s not a bother at all. I had a few spare rooms anyway so you really aren’t imposing. Just… don’t expect too much of the room, they were only ever meant to be overnighters for the truly intoxicated.”</p><p>Skyla needed several minutes to sit and calm down before she could even be guided to her room, which Hagrid used to fetch her muggle clothes from his motorcycle, in case she wanted to use them to explore muggle London at any point. With her backpack and her clothes in hand, she was led up to the third floor and Tom used his master key to open the door for her.</p><p>Skyla had been expecting something similar to the bedroom at the orphanage; a single bed against the wall with perhaps an old wardrobe and a broken window if she was very lucky, and she had been positively thrilled at the idea. She had disliked the old bedroom in the past, but after her time in the cellar, even that would now be an absolute dream come true. What she found, was (to anyone else) a very ordinary guest room that had a double bed, two old bedside tables, a simple wooden desk with a rather rickety chair and a slightly cramped en-suite attached to the room, where a small shower had been squished in next to a toilet and sink. The room wasn’t overly clean, but Tom had tried to sweep the floor and dust a little bit at least, though the carpet was very old and damaged and the small window that overlooked Diagon Alley was still quite rusty and covered in cobwebs. For most, it was a mediocre stay at best, almost exclusively used for a big night that involved too many pints and a disgruntled spouse at home that didn’t want to be disturbed in the early hours of the morning.</p><p>“This is incredible!”</p><p>To Skyla, it was an absolute palace and she couldn’t even believe that she had this entire space to herself. It was the biggest bed that she had ever seen in her life and there was not only one, but four pillows for her to use in addition to a fitted sheet, flat sheet, woolen blanket and an old, but very cosy-looking comforter. The thought of sitting at the desk and reading through her books (or even possibly doing some writing) filled with her with a sense of hope and she could even open the window if she wanted to (and even close it when she wanted to). </p><p>She earnestly thanked Hagrid and Tom once again for everything, and she practically begged Tom to let her pay something towards it, anything, but he just waved her off with a smile before he departed, telling her to get herself settled in.</p><p>“Alright then, so I’ll see you at school,” Hagrid said fondly, “remember; King’s Cross station, platform nine and three quarters, first of September, eleven o’clock. Give yourself plenty of time ‘cause you don’t want to miss the train!”</p><p>“I won’t,” Skyla promised.</p><p>Hagrid gave her a final smile and squeezed out through the door frame, leaving Skyla alone in her new room.</p><p>She stared at the double bed for a moment, hesitating, but eventually her caution gave way to excitement and, with a gleeful giggle, she ran forward and dove on top of the covers. She snuggled herself into the soft and comforting bed, sighing loudly at the luxuriously soft and cloud-like embrace as she rolled into the blanket like a cocooned caterpillar.</p><p>Tom and Hagrid both smiled slightly from outside the closed door as they listened to her excitedly laughing and enjoying her moment. Their smiles eventually faded however as they met each other’s eye and headed down to the bar.</p><p>“She’s very troubled, that one,” Tom said as he poured Hagrid a pint, “you should have told me earlier how bad she had it.”</p><p>“Didn’t have a chance until she was in Ollivanders,” Hagrid said regretfully, “I don’t think she’d want people to know how she lived, you know?”</p><p>“Yeah, I get that,” Tom agreed, “and I won’t tell a soul, but… she’s gonna need help. More than I give.”</p><p>“I think what she needs is to just live a little, be a happy kid for a change. What better place to do that than in Diagon Alley with a vault full of gold?”</p><p>“I must admit I was very surprised when you first asked if she could stay here,” Tom said, “this isn’t really the place for a little girl to live, you know, and she can’t stay here forever.”</p><p>“Trust me Tom,” Hagrid said darkly, “she is better off here than where she was. We’ll work something out for her during the school year.”</p><p>“Who’s idea was it to put her in that, what did you call it? Orpha-range?”</p><p>“Orphanage,” Hagrid corrected, “and that’s something I’m very curious about myself.”</p><p>He downed his pint and began to rummage through his pockets for any money of his own that he had buried in the corners, however Tom just chuckled and stopped him.</p><p>“She paid your tab off, you know,” he said with a smile.</p><p>Hagrid blinked in surprise, before he laughed and looked at the stairs with a strange sense of fondness and sadness for the girl.</p><p>“She doesn’t really understand money, or much about the world at all,” he said ruefully, “I worry for her at school.”</p><p>“At least she’ll have you there to help her, eh?” Tom said with a chuckle. </p><p>Hagrid privately wasn’t that he would even be that much help, since he was technically just a groundskeeper. He shrugged and downed his pint anyway, deciding to worry about that later.</p><p>“Alright, I best be off,” Hagrid said with a sigh, “gotta go talk to Professor Dumbledore about more’n a few things now. Put that one on my tab then,” he winked as he passed his empty pint glass to Tom, who rolled his eyes with a hint of a smile.</p><p>After Skyla had spent some time excitedly rolling around on her bed, or inspecting the bathroom, or swinging slightly on the rickety chair, she had eventually begun to pull out her various magical items, one by one, and set them up around the room. She followed her instructions for her new cauldron and tapped it with her wand, which caused it to immediately return to its full size. She decided to place it in the corner, along with her stack of books that she had no idea what to do with. She didn’t even know what she was supposed to do with a cauldron, but, she had a bought a pretty looking one at least and it was very new and shiny.</p><p>Eventually, she had emptied her backpack of her new clothes and magical items, and finally pulled out the letter that was still sitting at the very bottom. She had almost forgotten about it in all of the excitement of the day, yet now, she took it to the bed and lay down on her stomach, staring at her mother’s handwriting on the envelope with a growing sense of apprehension.</p><p>She gulped slowly as she gently broke the seal and took out a very long, double sided letter, written entirely in her mother’s beautiful cursive hand writing. It took Skyla a bit longer to read than usual because of it, but she loved the style regardless.</p><p>‘To our beautiful baby girl Skyla,’</p><p>… was as far as she got into the letter before her tears returned and she had to take a moment to recover herself once again.</p><p>‘If you are reading this, then it is because your father and I are gone. We are so sorry to leave you in this world without us, but we hope that you being alive to read this means that our plan to bring down Voldemort was successful, and that you have grown up in a loving and caring home, among our friends who we know will love you and cherish you just as we would have.</p><p>And, that Sirius has kept his promise of never taking you on that damn motorbike. If you are reading, Sirius, you better not have endangered my precious girl on that flying death trap.</p><p>In order to keep you safe from Voldemort, we have placed a very powerful rune within your hand. This wasn’t an easy decision for us; I have done a lot of experimenting with ancient runes and alchemy and it is never without risk. I can only hope that you aren’t experiencing any negative effects from it. You may experience some difficulty with your magic, or you may experience some phantom pain; I can’t really be sure what will happen as no-one has experimented with this kind of magic in the way that we have. It was a necessary sacrifice I’m afraid in order to keep you safe and I can only hope that it hasn’t caused you any undue stress. It is a single use, highly-charged shielding rune that I have overpowered with our blood; if we are no longer alive, then its power will be increased a thousand-fold. It will protect you from the darkest of magic, though it will only react to the most powerful of spells, and it will only activate once. We are putting all of our hopes into this defense, and I can only pray that he is foolish enough to act as we suspect he will.</p><p>We have left everything we own to you, without exception. If my investments have gone as planned, you should have a healthy account to play with. We don’t want you to be greedy, nor to lord your wealth over anyone else, but we do want you to use it, sweetheart. Your father grew up with that vault and he said that all they ever used it for was a… throwing contest with other families. Slightly paraphrased.</p><p>Anyway, I know that Sirius, Remus and Peter will look after you so if you have any questions you can always ask them. We trust them to guide you in our stead, to instill the values of truth, honesty and integrity within you.</p><p>‘They better guide you right, or I’ll haunt them for a thousand years,’ - your father. Sigh.</p><p>I think that you may also like to know why we called you Skyla. We haven’t told anyone this as this is just for you to know when the time is right; we called you Skyla because you represent endless possibility and unlimited freedom, just like the sky promises us every day as we look out of the window of our little cottage we share with you. We shaped your rune like a star because you are that bright light in the darkness for us, and whether it is night or day, I know you will shine.</p><p>(Your father would also like you know that ‘la’ was his addition and he is very proud of that.)</p><p>(‘At least she’s not another _______ constellation,’ - also your father.)</p><p>Goodbye my beautiful daughter. We will always love you; whether from beside you, or in the sky above you.</p><p>Mum and dad.’</p><p>Skyla thought that she could hear the rain gently tapping on the roof above her, however she soon realised that it was the sound of her own tears falling gently upon the old parchment that she cradled tightly to her chest, as her fractured heart once again shattered into a thousand familiar pieces.</p><p>***************</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Know Thyself</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Within a single fateful day, Skyla’s life had been turned completely upside down and it took her quite some time to get used to the jarring sensation of the sudden evolution. She had never experienced true freedom before (or freedom of any kind) yet now she found herself with almost an entire month to spend while having no restrictions upon her as to where she could go, or when she could do it. </p><p>Thankfully money was not an issue for her in the slightest and she was able to sample all of the exciting things that Diagon Alley had to offer. Even if she did go slightly over budget during her lively exploration of the magical world (not that she had a budget in the first place), it wasn’t a problem for her to go and withdraw more money as she needed. In fact, far from being a problem, it seemed to make Bleeding Eyes happy whenever she would visit, especially now that the vault had been cleaned out and properly organised.</p><p>“Woah,” Skyla had commented with a rather impressed expression when she had visited to refill her coin purse, “this looks totally different.”</p><p>Instead of the dragon’s den of gold that her vault had been before, the coins had all been neatly organised into metal boxes of different sizes, based upon the quantity. Everything was stacked and labeled with an even numeric value, which ensured that deposits and withdrawals were much easier to track and that the vault could be physically navigated with ease. It was less visually impressive without the mountains of coins lying everywhere, however Skyla appreciated the tidy rows of perfectly organised shelves and boxes that ranged from ten galleons up to ten thousand per box. It certainly made withdrawals a lot easier as she could simply empty a box that suited how much she wanted to take out, rather than have to scoop up coins off the ground by the handful.</p><p>“Yes, makes managing your funds a lot easier,” Bleeding Eyes commented as he looked around the vault with satisfaction, “it will make further organisation and recounts much easier and cheaper too. Speaking of which, here is your final count. Minus our fee, of course.”</p><p>Skyla was not exactly a mathematician, but she knew enough about numbers to know that when you had as many digits on the end of a number as her vault had, you probably didn’t need to worry about what you were spending in a retail store. Skyla could only laugh at the absurd amount of money once she had seen it in writing; she felt as though she needed to do something more with it than just spend it idly, but she had no idea what to do. For the moment she simply spent it as she went, though her spending happens didn’t seem to make any sort of dent in her wealth. Admittedly, she didn’t actually spend all that much of her gold throughout her stay, at least compared to what others may have done in her situation. She did visit Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and definitely spent far too much gold on creating strange, custom flavour combinations as it was extremely entertaining, but aside from that, she didn’t have a whole lot else that she wanted to do, or needed to buy. She wasn’t allowed a broom, even if she wanted one, and she had nowhere to keep a pet of any variety. Her parents had wanted her to enjoy her money and she did at first, however after a few days she had sampled everything that there was to do within the alley. After the initial excitement, she eventually settled in and ended up spending more of her time reading her school books than anything else. Sam kept her full to the brim as she read with excessively large breakfasts, lunches and dinners (despite her insistence that she didn’t need all that food) and by the end of her stay she had read almost all of her books, twice.</p><p>The only other activity that Skyla had undertaken was to visit her secondary vault at Gringotts that housed her mother’s unfinished experiments. A specialist that Bleeding Eyes had recommended inspected the vault thoroughly for two days, but found nothing out of the ordinary and deemed it entirely safe. He did comment that the existing spellwork on the items there was clearly highly advanced, but there was nothing nefarious about any of it.</p><p>“Most of it is simply muggle items,” he had said with a small shrug, “and anything that is enchanted doesn’t seem to change any properties. Strangely, it seems as though the items were being systematically stripped down through magic and rebuilt, but I don’t know why anyone would do that, or for what purpose.”</p><p>“It was all my mother’s stuff,” Skyla had said with a small smile, “I’m starting to get the impression that no-one really understood why she did a lot of things.”</p><p>“Well I’ll leave you to it,” the man said as he flicked his shoulder-length orange hair out of his face, “if you find anything odd just let Krylk know.”</p><p>Skyla had spent some time down with the items, carefully running her fingers over the various unassuming items, but she didn’t find the comfort that she was looking for. The sight of the incomplete plans actually made her feel rather angry; something that she had never been prone to feeling. Anger required passion or a vested interest, and Skyla had found it far easier to drift off into apathy at the Orphanage during her recent years. This however, did make her angry as it represented two beautiful lives that had been cut down in their prime, and two people who would never live to see their dreams through. All because of some madman who decided, for whatever reason, that her family needed to be destroyed before it had even begun. What if her parents had survived? Skyla would have grown up in a wealthy, but loving, household where she would never have wanted for anything. She might even have a brother or sister that looked up to her, or that she helped with homework. But, she would never know, because of that madman who called himself Voldemort, and that made her feel quite angry.</p><p>While the vault didn’t provide the family comfort she desired, her parents’ letter provided at least a little of that warmth. She kept it on her bedside table and she read it every evening before she blew out the lights and went to sleep. Every time that she read it she would trace each letter, imagining what her mother might have looked like while she was writing it. Was she the type to sit and bite her lip while thinking of what to write? Or did she speedily zoom away at the page with eagerness, jotting down her thoughts in a excitable dash as if they were erupting from her mind like a volcano of feelings and ideas?</p><p>Whenever she thought of her parent’s letter she felt a strange combination of pride, sorrow and confusion. Her parents, at least from what they had written and what people said about them, seemed like wonderful people and she was incredibly proud of them, which was quite an unusual feeling for Skyla who had never felt pride in anything before. The more she learned about them, the more painful their loss became and she felt as though she was only just starting to truly realise just how empty her life had actually been without them. The sense of confusion however, came from several references in the letter that she didn’t understand. She understood the idea of what had happened with this ‘rune’, even if she didn’t understand the actual magic behind it, yet she still had a lot of questions about the rest of the letter. They mentioned this, ‘Sirius’, several times and Skyla had no idea who that was, but apparently her parents had been very convinced that their friends would have looked after her. What happened to these friends? She supposed that after the death of her parents they may have drifted apart or simply not wanted to have anything to do with their dead friends’ daughter. She knew that it wasn’t particularly important in the grand scheme of things, but she still wondered about just who ‘Sirius’, ‘Remus’ and ‘Peter’ were, since her parents had seemed willing to trust them with Skyla’s life. The same parents who were willing to imbed a dangerous rune into her hand to protect her, were also willing to trust these people with her life, yet when the time came they were nowhere to be found? Something about it didn’t add up to Skyla, but it wasn’t as though she was about to go and track them down on her own. She didn’t even know their last names and, besides, did she really even have anything to say to them if she did happen to find them?</p><p>She eventually decided to forget about her parents’ friends from over ten years ago and instead, she decided to enjoy the best month of her entire life to the fullest. She rapidly worked her way through the entirety of her school reading list and a made a start on a few other books. She practiced simple spells with her new wand over and over, delighting in the control that she felt from it, with a little assistant from Tom and Sam about how to control her magic and direct it properly. She practiced her own brand of magic in the evenings as she lay in the dark, bouncing her orb of light off the ceiling idly as she thought about her life.</p><p>The days began to blur together and Skyla hadn’t even realised just how close she was to her first day of school until Tom pointed it out to her in the evening leading up to her departure. She had blissfully been enjoying life as it came, however as soon as she realised that she was on the eve of starting her new school adventure, stress and anxiety came crashing back into her mind. She was still excited, however the thought of having to leave this place now that she was settled was also rather nerve-wracking. She didn’t know exactly what she was walking into as Tom had advised her to steer clear of any history books that might ‘spoil’ a few things for her. She trusted Tom and took his advice, although it was incredibly difficult to do and she started to regret not researching Hogwarts more as her departure became reality.</p><p>“One thing I will tell you,” Tom said on the evening before she departed, “is how to actually get onto the platform. I remember a bunch of muggleborns showing up late when I was at school ‘cause they couldn’t figure out how to get to the train at all.”</p><p>Fear struck Skyla at the thought of having to dramatically arrive on her own due to being late, so she paid extra close attention as Tom explained about the magical barrier between platforms nine and ten and how to pass through it.</p><p>She tossed and turned through the night with deep anxiety at the thought of her upcoming departure, however nothing would halt the marching of time and she eventually found herself standing in the bar, with all of her belongings shrunk down and packed neatly inside her bottomless bag. She actually managed to shrink most of the items that need it herself, although Tom and Sam both helped her out along the way with tips and pointers.</p><p>“Well, I don’t really know what to say,” she eventually said to the two men, “I guess just… thank you. For everything.”</p><p>“You have a good year at school,” Tom said with a smile, “and if you need anything, you know where we are.”</p><p>“Make sure they feed you good up there,” Sam added with a scowl.</p><p>“I will,” Skyla smiled, “otherwise I’ll just have to bring the best chef in the world to teach them a thing or two!”</p><p>Tom laughed, however Sam just nodded in agreement.</p><p>With a final wave, Skyla stepped out from The Leaky Cauldron with her backpack slung over her shoulders and she and began the reasonably short walk to King’s Cross station. She had decided to wear her muggle clothes (a light blue T-shirt, simple black skirt and her white trainers) as she knew she would be walking through the muggle world and she didn’t want to stand out by wearing brightly coloured robes (or plain black ones, which were almost more unsettling to the muggles).</p><p>It turned out that the station was quite easy to find, and she didn’t even have any trouble locating platforms nine and ten. The only thing that bothered her was the fact that she seemed to be the only magical person there; and if there were others then they were doing an excellent job of hiding among the crowd of ordinary muggles.</p><p>She wasn’t sure whether to go straight through or not, and she found her anxiety growing as she simply stood on platform nine, waiting for any kind of activity. Tom had explained about the barrier, however she was a little early; what if it wasn’t open yet? Even worse, what if everyone was already in and it was now closed? Had she actually been too late in the end?</p><p>“-ull of muggles, as usual-”</p><p>A loud voice came carrying through the air behind her and Skyla perked up at the word, knowing that it meant someone magical had said it. </p><p>She looked over and the voice appeared to be coming from a rather plump woman who was hurrying along a smattering of orange haired children, who were almost all carrying large trunks and certainly seemed to be heading off for a long trip. Skyla was rather shocked by just how many there were in the family, yet they certainly seemed to be magical as they directly approached the magical barrier in front of Skyla.</p><p>“Are you going through, dear?” the woman asked kindly.</p><p>“Oh… yes, I just-”</p><p>“First time?” The woman said knowingly, “it can be a little daunting.”</p><p>“Yes,” Skyla admitted, “it is a bit scary to just… walk through a wall, even if I know that’s how it is supposed to work.”</p><p>“Well, we’ll head on through then,” the woman said with a smile, “and you can follow us through after once you’ve seen how it’s done. Go on Fred, you first.”</p><p>Two spectacularly identical twins moved forward with matching grins.</p><p>“I’m George,” the boy who had been directed through commented, “honestly you would think our own mother would know our names by now.”</p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry George,” the woman said distractedly.</p><p>“Just kidding, I am Fred!”</p><p>The twins both set off at a run and disappeared through the magical barrier, one after the other (although Skyla still wasn’t sure which one was which).</p><p>“Honestly…” the woman huffed in annoyance.</p><p>The rest of the family proceeded through the barrier one by one, leaving Skyla standing alone once again. She did feel much more inspired now that she had seen someone else do it, so she grit her teeth slightly and took off at a ran, heading directly for the wall.</p><p>She emerged immediately out to the other side and quickly came to a sliding stop, realising that there was now a bustling crowd directly in front of her. It was incredibly busy and she could see families all over the platform saying farewells to each other with hugs and waves. The railway was occupied by a very large steam train; it looked quite old fashioned compared to the muggles ones that she had noticed coming in and out of King’s Cross and it had ‘The Hogwarts Express’ painted on the side in large, gold, cursive letters. The train had a dozen carriages and each carriage looked as though it was already starting to fill with children from her own age, right through to older teens who almost looked to be adults.</p><p>Skyla had never taken a train before, so she didn’t know if there was anything she needed to do and she carefully watched the others around her for clues. After watching the other children for a moment, it seemed that most were simply randomly hopping onto any old carriage so after a moment of indecision, she decided to head for the front of the train, since it was the furthest away from the main entrance and she hoped that it might be quieter down that end.</p><p>She was right, and the very first carriage at the front had hardly anyone in it. She entered one of the completely empty compartments and shut the door behind herself, sighing with satisfaction as she sat down and put her backpack down on the floor between her feet. She didn’t know how long it was going to be until they arrived at Hogwarts, but she had all of her things within her bag if she did need anything. Now that she was on the train and ready to go, she felt that she could finally relax slightly as she stared out the window, lost in thought.</p><p>It was bizarre to think that she was currently on her way to school. Not just any old school either, a school of magic! She was as equal parts excited as she was scared at the thought of everyone around her also being able to do magic and she wondered what kind of strange things she might see. She felt extremely underprepared for the world that she had no idea existed until recently and she hoped that she wouldn’t stand out too much. She knew that it was going to be vastly different than the ‘education’ that she had received from Beatrice, although this time she wouldn’t be learning material that was several years lower than her mental age, due to her advancing much quicker than the muggle children. She hoped that she wouldn’t struggle with the content; a fear that had helped her to complete the reading of her school books well in advance.</p><p>It didn’t take long for even her carriage at the front to start filling up and the closer it got to the eleven o’clock departure time, the busier it became as students scrambled to find a spot for the long trip. Even sitting in the furthest carriage didn’t save her from the crowd for long and eventually, her compartment door slid open.</p><p>“Sorry, do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else is getting quite full.”</p><p>Skyla looked up to see a girl hovering in the doorway. A girl with quite long, bushy brown hair and a slightly nervous demeanour. She had intense, brown eyes and she was almost hiding behind the door as if she was afraid that Skyla might dramatically reject her.</p><p>“Sure. I mean, no. That I don’t mind, that is, so… yes,” Skyla said, stumbling over her words slightly.</p><p>‘Great,’ she thought to herself, ‘the first person I speak to and I’m already making myself look stupid.’</p><p>The girl just laughed slightly however, before dragging her trunk into the compartment and closing the door. She struggled a little to get it up to the overhead railings, so Skyla stood up to help her lift it.</p><p>“Oh, thanks,” the girl replied with a smile.</p><p>“No problem.”</p><p>Together they managed to hoist the surprisingly heavy trunk up into the storage area.</p><p>“I’m Hermione Granger,” the girl said cheerfully as she sat down across from Skyla’s seat, holding her hand out politely.</p><p>“Oh, Skyla Potter,” Skyla replied, reaching out to shake hands. Before her hand could even reach Hermione’s however, the girl had paused and was staring down at Skyla’s hand, before flicking her eys up at Skyla’s hair and her eyes.</p><p>“THE Skyla Potter?” Hermione exclaimed in surprise, “Oh! I’ve read all about you.”</p><p>“Really?” Skyla asked hesitantly as she closed her fist and removed her hand uncomfortably.</p><p>“Oh yes,” Hermione said eagerly, forgetting all about the handshake in her excitement, “I knew that you would be coming to Hogwarts this year, of course. It was quite obvious based on your age, but I didn’t expect to share a compartment with you. I read up on anything that I thought might be important to know, and you’re very famous in the magical world.”</p><p>“So it would seem.”</p><p>Hermione hardly even drew a breath as she excitedly continued.</p><p>“Of course you are most famous for the defeat of the Dark Lord, but even without that there were many people in history who had been wondering what the child of the Potters might be like, since they were both quite successful and influential, although they had their first child, well you, quite early on, especially give the war at the time. Of course it’s all rumour and heresay, but the leading theory was that after their tragic passing, Professor Dumbledore had sheltered you away from the media and harassment to grow up in a normal life. Some thought you might not even be in Europe and might be in America!”</p><p>‘This girl can really talk…” Skyla thought to herself as Hermione excitedly rambled on while Skyla sat quietly in front of her.</p><p>“Obviously you know your own life better than I do, I’m just saying that it’s quite nice to meet someone that I have only read about. I haven’t met anyone that I’ve read about before, aside from a few university lecturers that my parents know and they weren’t particularly interesting in the end.”</p><p>“Well it sounds like you know my life better than I do,” Skyla laughed slightly, “I didn’t know anything about Dumbledore or magic or anything until recently. I grew up in an orphange.”</p><p>Hermione paused for a moment and she tilted her head questioningly. They both felt a sudden shift forward as the train began its journey and Skyla wondered if that might be enough to distract Hermione.</p><p>It wasn’t.</p><p>“That’s curious,” Hermione said thoughtfully, “I was on-board with the theory that Dumbledore had hidden you, but then I suppose an orphanage is a clever place to hide someone really. No magical reporters are going to go looking there. He’s such a brilliant wizard, I’ve read all about him too-”</p><p>“I think we’ve been reading very different books,” Skyla said, “I know the school books inside and out but I didn’t see any references to myself or Professor Dumbledore in them.”</p><p>“Well you aren’t in our prescribed readings or anything, but I love reading history books and biographies of important people,” Hermione nodded enthusiastically, “I find it fascinating to read about the people who shaped our world. I felt so left out after discovering there was an entire magical world hidden from view, that I have not stopped reading since I got my books. I practically begged my parents to go and get my supplies as soon as I got my letter and I used all of my allowance to buy some extra background reading material too.”</p><p>“I understand how you feel with that part,” Skyla agreed, “I still feel very underprepared, even though I’ve read all the school books. I’ve mostly been reading and practicing what we’re going to be doing at school for the last month.”</p><p>“Oh? You’ve been practicing magic?” Hermione asked curiously, “my parents didn’t think it was safe for me to try without supervision. let’s see some!”</p><p>Skyla shrugged and slipped her wand out of her holster.</p><p>“Oh, that’s really neat!” Hermione commented with approval of the handy accessory, “and your wand is so pretty!”</p><p>“Thanks,” Skyla said happily as she looked down to her pastel pink and perfectly smooth wand, “I like it too.”</p><p>She cleared her throat briefly, before flicking her wand into the air smoothly and saying, “Nixellius!”</p><p>Snow began to softly fall within the compartment, causing Hermione to let out a small noise of wonder as she held her hand out and caught a few falling snowflakes. Skyla let the spell continue on for a moment, until she eventually canceled it with a “nox”.</p><p>“It’s not really the most useful one,” she said a little sheepishly as she tucked her wand away, “but it was an easy one to learn and the others I’m not confident enough to try in the train right now. Some of the others are quite difficult and take a lot of energy.”</p><p>“Oh yes, I’ve read that it’s really important to-”</p><p>“Woah, that’s wicked!”</p><p>A voice came from the doorway and interrupted Hermione mid-sentence. Slightly startled, both girls looked around to see that there was a boy in the doorway; they didn’t know when he had gotten there, but he had clearly been there long enough to witness the magic as he was still looking into the air with an impressed expression. He was quite distinctive with his bright orange hair and Skyla thought she recognised him as one of the family who had gone through the barrier before her, but she wasn’t entirely sure. She was fairly confident however that there wouldn’t be that many families here with hair that was a stunningly orange as that family however.</p><p>“Can I sit in here?” He asked, “my brothers kicked me out of their compartment, the scumbags. Wanted to be alone with their friends.”</p><p>The girl’s shrugged indifferently, with matching statements of “sure”.</p><p>“I’m Ron, Ron Weasley,” the boy said as he dragged his trunk into the compartment and hoisted it up onto the railings above.</p><p>“Hermione Granger,” Hermione answered politely.</p><p>“Skyla Potter,” Skyla added, following her lead.</p><p>Ron almost dropped his trunk entirely for a moment, however he managed to recover it and throw it back up onto the railings with abandon.</p><p>“THE Skyla Potter?” He gasped.</p><p>“Well, I’m sure there’s more than one Skyla Potter out there,” Skyla replied with a small, nervous laugh.</p><p>“It’s not a particularly common name… do you… do you have the scar?” Ron asked conspiratorially as he looked down to her hand.</p><p>Skyla closed her fist and withdrew it uncomfortably, however Ron eagerly tried to get a look by moving his head around, eventually forcing Skyla to place her hands flat on her thighs.</p><p>“I think you’re making her uncomfortable,” Hermione said to Ron.</p><p>“It’s okay,” Skyla sighed and shook her head, “I should probably get used to this, right? Better to get it over with, I suppose.”</p><p>With a small breath she extended her right hand and revealed her palm to the excited boy. She had never really thought much about her scar before her entry into the magical world; it had just been an unknown scar to her or if anything, some kind of mark of the devil or demonic symbol or the like as Beatrice had suggested frequently. Now however, knowing that it was the mark of her parents’ rune (and that it had contained their very blood), it felt far more personal when she exposed it. The rune had (apparently) saved her life and she wondered whether the scar was only so large and distinctive due to the fact that it had been overpowered as a result of her parents’ death. It wasn’t a particularly cheerful thought and she was still working through exactly how she felt about it, as it was deeply personal and slightly troubling in its own way. </p><p>None of which was made any better by people gawking at her hand, like the boy in front of her.</p><p>“Wicked!” Ron grinned eagerly, “no wonder you can do magic like that already! I bet there’s loads of cool stuff you can do!”</p><p>“Not really,” Skyla admitted quietly, “I only know a few basic spells that we’re all going to learn this year anyway, and I bet loads of people have already gotten a head start on their subjects, especially those who grew up with magic.”</p><p>“That’s true,” Hermione sighed sadly, “my parents aren’t magical and I feel so far behind already. I know the theory behind the spells, but since I haven’t had a chance to do any I don’t even know if they will work. It feels like an unfair advantage really.”</p><p>“I grew up in a magical family,” Ron said with a shrug, “and I don’t really know any magic.”</p><p>“Oh? Do you not learn magic when growing up in a magical household?” Hermione asked with interest, “I really thought you would have learned some along the way, at least.”</p><p>“Well mum always tried to teach me, but, who has time for that?” Ron said with a laugh.</p><p>“Your mum wanted to teach you magic and you said no?” Hermione and Skyla both asked at the same time, with the same tone of longing in their voice (though for slightly different reasons).</p><p>“Yeah but I always though what’s the point,” Ron said airily, “isn’t that why we come here? To learn that stiff?”</p><p>“Well if you have a magical household I bet it is quite easy to practice there,” Skyla pointed out, “unlike me who had to do my practicing in The Leaky Cauldron and hope I didn’t break anything I didn’t own.”</p><p>“The Leaky Cauldron? The pub at the entrance to Diagon Alley?” Hermione asked, “you were practicing in there?”</p><p>“I lived there for the last month,” Skyla explained, “after Hagrid picked me up from the orphanage he organised for me to stay there instead of going back.”</p><p>“Who is Hagrid?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“Oh, he’s the groundskeeper at Hogwarts,” Skyla explained, “he came to get me after I never wrote back to my letter. He’s also something about… the keys, he said, but I can’t remember now.”</p><p>“What’s an oraphenege?” Ron asked, “is that some muggle thing?”</p><p>“It’s a place where children without parents or carers are sent,” Hermione said with a small frown, “but I’ve heard it’s very unpleasant to grow up in one and that they are removing them altogether and replacing them with proper care homes. I’m surprised you were even in one at all. It must have been a very nice one, at least.”</p><p>Skyla laughed openly and loudly.</p><p>“Sorry, I’m not laughing at you,” Skyla quickly explained, “it’s just… well. I wouldn’t even know where to start. Let’s just say that those ‘care homes’ sound good on the poster, but there are many children who never get to see one.”</p><p>She could only imagine what Beatrice would have said to Hermione about the topic, but thankfully, Skyla didn’t expect the two to ever interact. She wondered briefly what Beatrice was doing, and how Beatrice reacted when Skyla didn’t return.</p><p>She was probably over the moon about it; a thought that annoyed Skyla slightly.</p><p>“Muggles are strange,” Ron commented, “very odd.”</p><p>“I actually agree with you there,” Skyla said.</p><p>“Well, I suppose both sides would always seem strange to each other,” Hermione reasoned, “some cultural differences are bound to develop.”</p><p>“Well, strange muggles aside,” Ron suddenly said to Skyla, “tell us all about it!”</p><p>“About what?” she replied, confused.</p><p>“Your adventures!” He rolled his eyes as if it were obvious, “you know, the dragon riding and battle with… You-Know-Who and-”</p><p>“What?” Skyla laughed, “I haven’t done anything like that.”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“What do YOU mean?”</p><p>“There are a lot of fables and stories about you,” Hermione explained briefly, “after the fall of the Dark Lord, some people wrote that you were off growing up in goblin wars, riding dragons into battle, breaking up muggle wars or-”</p><p>“That’s ridiculous,” Skyla chuckled in amusement, “I hadn’t even properly been outside until a month ago. Unless you count the old trips to the park and the midnight food trips, back when Sarah…”</p><p>She trailed off; that wound was still too painful for her to re-open any time soon. The two stared at her for a moment, but she simply stopped talking and said nothing more.</p><p>“What do you mean you hadn’t been outside?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“I was always inside,” Skyla said, “reading or when I couldn’t read just… doing nothing, really.”</p><p>“Sounds boring,” Ron commented, “I spent most of my time flying on brooms with my brothers or tossing gnomes out of the garden or-”</p><p>“That definitely sounds like a lot more fun than I had,” Skyla said with a slightly sad smile and a hint of envy in her voice. Hermione stared at her for a moment as though she wanted to ask something, but it seemed she thought better of it and changed the topic.</p><p>“Well, anyway… have either of you thought of which house you want to be in?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“Gryffindor,” Ron replied immediately, “if I don’t get into Gryffindor I’ll be the laughing stock of my family. I have to be in there.”</p><p>“I had a very brief look at the houses,” Skyla shrugged, “but I don’t really mind. It’s not like I know anyone in them anyway.”</p><p>“I think Ravenclaw sounds like a good house to be in from an educational standpoint,” Hermione said with a slightly furrowed brow, “Gryffindor sounds quite… rowdy. Hufflepuff is certainly a nice house based on good moral values, but I don’t feel as though it offers much more than that. I’m a muggleborn so there’s no way I’ll end up in Slytherin anyway even if I wanted to.”</p><p>“Slytherin is evil,” Ron said with a shake of his head, “anyone who ends up in there always turn bad. It is the house for the people who have nowhere better to go.”</p><p>“Sounds like I’ll end up there, then,” Skyla laughed slightly, “maybe I’ll actually fit in there for once.”</p><p>“Yeah right,” Ron scoffed, “Skyla Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived, in Slytherin? That will be the day.”</p><p>The three chatted idly for awhile, until eventually Skyla decided to pull out one of her textbooks and do some revision since it seemed that they were going to be on the train for quite some time.</p><p>“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Hermione said approvingly, “we should definitely squeeze in what practice we can before we get there. We probably still have a couple of hours to go.”</p><p>She stood up and began to retrieve her own book from her trunk above them.</p><p>“We’ll be at school all year,” Ron said with a frown, “why would you need to study right now?”</p><p>“Why not?” both girls replied.</p><p>“I… think I’ll wait for later,” Ron said, eyeing the thick textbooks with apprehension, “I might go check on my brothers and see what they’re up to now…”</p><p>“Alright. See you later then.”</p><p>Ron hastily departed the compartment while the girls simply looked at each other for a moment and shrugged. </p><p>They studied in a comfortable silence for awhile which was quite strange to Skyla. She thought it might be a weird to study alongside someone else like this, but it was rather nice to sit back and read her textbook while across from her, Hermione did the same. It was reassuring; it reminded her that they were both in the same situation and it helped her to lose some of her anxiety about being behind in class.</p><p>After half an hour had passed, someone slid the compartment door open and called out to them.</p><p>“Anything from the trolley, dears?”</p><p>The girls looked up to see an old, kind looking woman pushing a small trolley that was laden with colourful sweets and strange looking drinks.</p><p>“Oh, no thank you,” Hermione said politely, “I’m sure it’s all wonderful, but I already spent most of my allowance.”</p><p>Skyla noticed that Hermione was looking rather curiously at some of the more magical items as she spoke, and she jumped slightly when a box of… something, suddenly rattled out of nowhere. Unlike Hermione, Skyla didn’t have an allowance to manage and a thought popped into her head.</p><p>“If you have enough to spare,” Skyla began hesitantly, “I’ll take two of… well, everything? Only if you have enough that is.”</p><p>Both Hermione and the woman looked at her rather incredulously, until Skyla pulled out her coin purse from her backpack and grabbed a handfuls of gold galleons.</p><p>“How much would that be?” Skyla asked, “I’ll throw in a bit extra because I’m getting so much at once, to cover it…”</p><p>Hermione stared in shock at the amount of gold that Skyla was happily handing over (to an equally happy old woman). With a little teamwork, the three of them collectively dumped two of everything onto the seat beside Skyla, and thanked the old lady as she moved on; somehow with a trolley that still looked just as full as before Skyla had taken a giant armful of her stock.</p><p>“I didn’t know that you had so much money,” Hermione said, “things like that weren’t exactly covered in the history books.”</p><p>“I didn’t know either,” Skyla admitted, “not until I got to Diagon Alley and Hagrid took me to the bank. It turns out that my parents left me a lot of gold in a vault. They even left a letter in which they instructed me to have fun spending it.”</p><p>“That was nice of them,” Hermione said with a smile.</p><p>“I don’t really care about the gold though,” Skyla said, “I’d give it all away for a single conversation with them. I have so many questions I’d love to ask them, and none of those questions would be about the gold.”</p><p>“Oh… Skyla…” Hermione said softly, “I’m so sorry. It must be awful having grown up without them. I couldn’t imagine not having my parents.”</p><p>Skyla just shrugged. </p><p>“Not much I can do about it now anyway, they’re already dead,” Skyla said with a rather forced laugh, “anyway… here.”</p><p>Skyla split the stack of goodies in half and began to pass a surprised Hermione one of everything.</p><p>“You looked curious; you don’t have to eat it all,” Skyla explained, “there’s no way I’ll eat all of this either. I just thought it might be fun to try a bit of everything.”</p><p>“I… I don’t think I can accept all of this,” Hermione said slowly, “that was a lot of money, Skyla…”</p><p>Skyla, who was currently pulling open what appeared to be a chocolate bar, looked up at her in surprise.</p><p>“Was it? Well… my parents told me to enjoy it. I thought it might be nice to try these things together.”</p><p>“That… it does sound nice,” Hermione said with a small smile forming on her face, “are you sure that it’s okay though? I won’t be able to pay this back for a very long time-”</p><p>Skyla just waved her off dismissively.</p><p>“Look at this,” she said as she showed Hermione the chocolate bar, “I swear it just moved…”</p><p>The girls began to tear open the various snacks and sweets, inspecting the contents closely for any signs of magic or enchantments. Neither girl actually ate much of what was there, especially since Hermione explained that her parents were dentists and would have skinned her alive if they saw her with this much artificial sugar in her hands. Skyla simply didn’t have much of a sweet tooth since she hadn’t eaten much that was sweet while growing up, but they both had a lot of fun discovering what made each of the treats unique and interesting through the use of magic.</p><p>“Thank you for buying all of that,” Hermione said after they had exhausted all of their snacks, “there was some really interesting magic involved in those. It makes you think about how much you can actually achieve with magic, doesn’t it?”</p><p>“Definitely,” Skyla agreed, “I’ve already learned that magic can do things that you would have never thought possible. I’m really excited to get in and start learning more, it feels like we just wont have enough time to learn everything, you know?”</p><p>“Exactly!” Hermione nodded, “we’re going to have to be really diligent if we want to keep on top of things.”</p><p>“Maybe we can help each other?” Skyla suggested, “I’m sure there will be things that we both don’t understand and we might be able to do some study together and figure it out?”</p><p>“I would love that,” Hermione said with a small smile, “I’ve never really had any friends before and the other children at my school were more interested in playing sports than studying.”</p><p>“I’ve never had any friends either,” Skyla admitted, “the other children at the orphanage were… well. Not very nice.”</p><p>Hermione made a sympathetic noise of understanding as the two girls happily pulled their books back out.</p><p>“Did you get bullied?” Hermione asked after a moment.</p><p>“I suppose you would call it that,” Skyla said with a shrug, “but I didn’t really get hit very often or anything. Once I was in the cellar, I just didn’t really seem them much after that. I don’t even know if any of the old kids are still there.”</p><p>“Cellar?”</p><p>“Oh yeah, my room was in the cellar,” Skyla explained, “so that I wasn’t around the other children and affecting them with my weirdness. Beatrice - that’s the matron - locked the bars so that I couldn’t get out. I used to teleport out for food but after an incident with the bakery, well… I was stuck with whatever scraps she scrounged up for me.”</p><p>“That sounds… horrible,” Hermione said with a frown. Skyla just shrugged.</p><p>“I mean, it was at first, but I had some running water in there and eventually I figured out how to make some light. It was mostly just boring after that, especially after I lost… some stuff.”</p><p>“I guess I can’t really complain about my school experience after that,” Hermione said.</p><p>“It’s not a competition,” Skyla laughed slightly.</p><p>“Well, I hope that we both have better experiences here,” Hermione said, biting her lip slightly, “I mean, we’re all here to learn magic! I’m sure everyone is super excited and keen… right?”</p><p>“Ron didn’t seem that enthusiastic,” Skyla pointed out, “I guess to the magical children it’s nothing special.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s a shame… but I bet the others that are like us will be super excited,” Hermione said hopefully.</p><p>“I hope so.”</p><p>The two resumed their reading and sat mostly in silence, occasionally asking questions about the textbook they were reading or simply repeatedly commenting on how wonderful magic was in general.</p><p>***************</p><p>After a few hours had passed, an announcement was made that the train would be arriving at Hogwarts soon and the students were instructed to change into their school robes. Thankfully, Ron took a while returning to the compartment and the girls had finished changing in time. He, however, was still scrambling to put on his robes as they departed the train amidst the crowd of excitable students.</p><p>“It feels weird leaving our things on the train,” Hermione said with concern as they stepped out onto the platform, “I know they told us to, but… how do they know which bag is going where? And what’s to stop someone from getting on the train and stealing things?”</p><p>“Maybe it’s magically protected?” Skyla suggested, “like, something that stops anyone from stealing what doesn’t belong to them on there, and identifies which bag belongs to who?”</p><p>“Are there any spells that can do that much?” Hermione asked curiously.</p><p>Skyla just shrugged, although she considered her hand for a moment which was living proof of the fact that there was some seriously advanced and incredible magic out there. If there was something that protected her from outright death, then surely there was something that protected a few items from being stolen. She was positive that her parents would have known the answer to that and she felt a little sorrowful that she couldn’t ask them-</p><p>She shook her head; she shouldn’t think about things like that; not here, not now.</p><p>“First years, over here!”</p><p>A booming voice called out across the platform and Skyla spotted the large frame that could only be Hagrid, as he towered above the students and waved his handheld lantern around in the sky to attract the attention of the students.</p><p>“I guess that’s us,” Ron said as he finally stepped out behind them, though his robes seemed slightly ruffled and possibly inside out.</p><p>“I would imagine so yes, being first years,” Hermione said rather dryly at his comment. He rolled his eyes slightly in annoyance, however he said nothing in response.</p><p>“Hagrid!” Skyla called out happily as she lightly jogged over to him, with Hermione and Ron in tow who were giving each other slight frowns, though Skyla didn’t notice.</p><p>“Oh, hello there Skyla!” he said warmly as he peered down at her in the light of his lantern, “look at you! Sam been feeding you well, I see.”</p><p>“You could say that. I don’t think I’ve been hungry in the last month,” Skyla laughed slightly. Hagrid chuckled with fondness at his friends, knowing that Tom and Sam would have taken excellent care of her.</p><p>“Alright,” he said as he turned to address the entire group of students that was gathering around him, “we’ll be going to the castle by boat. Make sure it’s only four to a boat, or you might sink. This way…”</p><p>The small crowd of anxious first year students followed him down to the lake where a host of small, wooden boats rested on the edges of the muddy bank. Groups had already begun to form among the students as they split into fours and huddled around their chosen boats.</p><p>Skyla, Hermione and Ron picked out a boat at random and climbed in, with Skyla and Hermione occupying on side and Ron the other. After a moment of waiting, another boy approached their boat.</p><p>“Hello, do you mind if I…?” he asked hesitantly.</p><p>“Go ahead,” the three collectively responded.</p><p>“Thanks,” he said gratefully as he climbed in. He slipped on the edge and for a moment, Skyla thought that they were all about to go tumbling over onto the muddy bank, but thankfully the boat seemed to be kept in place by more than mere flotation.</p><p>“Sorry. I’m Neville,” he said sheepishly, “Neville Longbottom.”</p><p>The group made their introductions and to his credit, Neville only made a small expression of surprise at the mention of Skyla’s name.</p><p>“I know right?” Ron said with a slight smirk, “THE Skyla Potter.”</p><p>“Wow,” Neville said, “well it’s an honour to meet you. I grew up on the stories about you, I think we all did.”</p><p>“Whatever you heard was probably untrue,” Skyla said with a frown, thinking about Ron’s bizarre impression of what her childhood had apparently been like.</p><p>“Probably,” Neville shrugged, “but it’s still a pleasure to meet you anyway.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Skyla smiled slightly, “it’s nice to meet you too.”</p><p>No more was said about it and Skyla was quite grateful to the boy for not making a fuss about her.</p><p>A distraction came when the boats eventually moved themselves off into the lake, powered only by a strange and clearly powerful magic. At first, it was quite eerie to be drifting silently through the smooth, black water, however as they rounded a small cliff face that had thus far obscured their view, the students collectively gasped at the sight before them.</p><p>The grand castle of Hogwarts came gliding into view and it was simply magnificent; it was much larger than Skyla expected it to be and had a multitude of tall towers and turrets that reached high into the sky. The dark night sky only enhanced the view as the many torches and lights within the castle were shining brightly and winking occasionally down at the students in what almost appeared to be a cheerful and welcoming manner.</p><p>“Oh, so pretty!” Hermione exclaimed in awe.</p><p>“It really is…” Skyla agreed in a hushed voice.</p><p>The chatter of the students in the boats faded away as most of the first years simply watched the impressive view silently while they drifted slowly and rather peacefully across the lake.</p><p>Eventually, they approached a small dock that appeared to connect to the castle via a set of old, wooden stairs and the boats formed a neat little row that guided themselves in, one at a time. The students dismounted and resumed their excited chatter among themselves while Hagrid funneled them into the castle through a side door.</p><p>“That’s my part done,” Hagrid said, slightly wistfully, “just wait here and someone will come grab you lot in a min’ or two.”</p><p>“Goodbye Hagrid,” Skyla said to him as he passed and he gave her a smile smile.</p><p>“I’ll see you later on,” Hagrid said with a nod.</p><p>After Hagrid departed, the students loitered on the stairs as they waited for someone else to come and direct them where to go.</p><p>“I can’t believe they let that giant work here,” a familiar drawl rang out rather audibly, “surely that thing is a security risk.”</p><p>“Giant? He’s a giant?” Another student asked in concern.</p><p>“He must be,” Draco, the blonde haired boy that Skyla remembered from Twilfitt and Tattings replied with a slight shrug as he stepped forward, “look at the size of him. That’s not natural.”</p><p>“Maybe he’s just big boned,” an Irish boy replied, though with obvious hesitance in his voice.</p><p>“He’s a lovely person,” Skyla said quietly, though loud enough for everyone to hear, “he’s very kind and very thoughtful.”</p><p>“Oh it’s you,” Draco said as he turned to Skyla in surprise, “his pet. Let you off your leash, did he?”</p><p>Two large boys guffawed from behind Draco, while he stared at Skyla with a slightly amused expression. Skyla said nothing and looked away awkwardly, not really sure what she should do.</p><p>“Oi, don’t speak to her like that,” Ron said, suddenly turning rather aggressive as he walked towards Draco.</p><p>“Oh look, a Weasley,” Draco sneered as he looked Ron up and down, “didn’t think your family could afford to put yet another child through school. Sell your house, did you? Might have covered the robes, at least.”</p><p>The two boys behind Draco laughed again, pointing at Ron’s hair and robes.</p><p>“At least I’m not as stupid as you, Malfoy,” Ron said angrily; apparently he already knew the boy too, “you just insulted the saviour of the wizarding world.”</p><p>“Saviour of the wizarding world?” Draco laughed, “did your mother drop you on your head or something? You’re nothing.”</p><p>“No not me you stupid git,” Ron spat, “her. That’s Skyla Potter.”</p><p>Ron pointed to Skyla as a chorus of whispers and murmurs spread through the crowd.</p><p>“She happens to be a very good friend of mine and I won’t let you talk about her that way.”</p><p>“Do you happen to be a very good friend of his?” Hermione whispered quietly to Skyla with her hand over her mouth.</p><p>“This is news to me,” Skyla whispered back. Hermione snickered slightly behind her hand.</p><p>“You’re talking out your arse, Weasley,” Draco said with a shake of her head.</p><p>“Show her the scar, Skyla,” Ron turned and said to Skyla as everyone looked on with interest, “go on.”</p><p>“I… I don’t really want to,” Skyla said as she closed her hand into a balled fist and withdrew it slightly into her sleeve. Everyone was staring directly at her and she had never felt more uncomfortable and awkward in her life. It was is if all of the students were suddenly accusing her of something that she hadn’t done; all she had wanted to do was to point out that Hagrid was a very nice person and she hadn’t foreseen herself getting dragged into some kind of confrontation over it.</p><p>“How about both of you just leave her alone,” Hermione pitched in, “she clearly doesn’t want any part of this. Besides, we’ve been here for all of five minutes, can’t you at least wait until we have finished our entrance ceremony?”</p><p>“Keep your nose out of this, bushy,” Draco sneered, “no-one asked.”</p><p>Hermione huffed in annoyance, her face turning slightly red in anger and perhaps a little embarrassment, as she unconsciously ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to push it down slightly.</p><p>“Can you stop insulting people,” Skyla said to Draco, “it’s not very nice. I don’t think you’re very nice.”</p><p>“I don’t think you’re very nice,” Draco mocked in a slightly sing-song voice, “what are you, five years old? And Weasley thinks you are Skyla Potter? The Girl-Who-Lived? Don’t make me laugh.”</p><p>“She IS Skyla Potter!” Ron said angrily, “just show him the scar, Skyla!”</p><p>“Are you really THE Skyla Potter?” A boy suddenly asked Skyla.</p><p>“Well my name is Skyla,” she replied hesitantly, “but-”</p><p>“That doesn’t meant anything, I saw her wearing muggle clothes,” Draco laughed, “she’s nobody.”</p><p>“That-” Skyla began.</p><p>“She knows good magic already!” Ron said angrily, “show him, go on!”</p><p>“I don’t want t-”</p><p>“Show me your hand,” someone demanded, “that will clear everything up straight away!”</p><p>“I… I don’t like-”</p><p>“Leave her alone,” Hermione demanded, “it doesn’t matter whether she is or not.”</p><p>“So you’re saying she is?” the first boy rounded on Hermione, “you’ve seen it?”</p><p>“It doesn’t matter!”</p><p>“She’s got the scar and she’s also got the green eyes and black hair, just like the stories,” Ron pointed out.</p><p>The students began to squabble among themselves and Skyla felt her heart rate rising dramatically and a sense of panic beginning to overwhelm her. She wanted nothing more than to simply turn around and run away; bizarrely she almost wanted to run back to the Orphanage and bury herself into a dark, cold, corner of the cellar and never think about anything ever again. She took several steps back as her emotions began to run wild, although no-one had even noticed that she had backed away aside from Hermione, who stopped arguing with the others and looked over at her with concern.</p><p>Thankfully, a loud voice cut out across the students before Skyla could actually decide to turn and bolt.</p><p>“Attention!” A stern looking older witch called out to the first years, causing the group to fall silent, “I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”</p><p>The students all looked at each other for a moment, before silently moving closer.</p><p>“In a moment you will proceed through these doors,” she indicated to the large double doors behind her, “and you will be sorted into your houses. Each house has different traits or values that they prioritise, however no matter what house you are placed in, you will still be expected to follow the school rules and conduct yourself with dignity and respect.”</p><p>“Now, follow me.”</p><p>Ron and Draco glared at each other while Skyla awkwardly avoided the eyes of the many students that were glued to her, before the doors opened and the first years followed Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall.</p><p>“Ooh, look, the enchanted ceiling! I’ve read about it in Hogwarts: A History,” Hermione said excitedly, immediately forgetting about the previous arguments as she gazed up at the magical ceiling that displayed the outside night sky as if it were missing its roof.</p><p>Something about Hermione’s excited demeanour caused Skyla to relax slightly, somewhat ironically, and she let out a small shaky breath as she attempted to get her emotions under control. She had no idea what had even caused the overwhelming sensation, but she still felt as though she were running on pure adrenaline.</p><p>“Tom advised me against reading that book,” Skyla said quietly as she peered up at the sky, “he said it would spoil the many neat surprises of the school.”</p><p>“Oh, well I suppose that is a fair point,” Hermione admitted, though it didn’t seem to damper her spirits at all, “but, it’s all far too exciting not to read about it!”</p><p>The group marched forward under the watchful eye of the many older students who were seated at the four long house tables within the Great Hall, until they reached a long staff table. In front of the staff table sat a single stool with an old, faded wizard’s hat placed neatly on the center.</p><p>“When I call your name you will come forward, sit on the stool, and be placed into your house,” McGonagall called out to the first years as she unrolled a scroll of parchment before her.</p><p>“Abbott, Hannah.”</p><p>“HUFFLEPUFF!”</p><p>And so it had begun, with students being called forth one by one to be sorted into their houses by the magical hat, which would shout out one of the houses after resting on the students head for a moment. The older students all clapped and cheered in support whenever a new student joined their house, and their school robes magically added a matching emblem that displayed the coat of arms for their house above their heart as soon as they were sorted.</p><p>Granger, Hermione.”</p><p>Skyla watched on as a clearly nervous Hermione stepped forward and sat on the stool while Professor McGonagall placed the hat upon her head. Unlike some of the other students, it seemed to take the hat quite awhile to sort her, however eventually the hat cried out, “GRYFFINDOR!”.</p><p>The table that was the furthest on the right clapped and cheered eagerly as Hermione hopped off the stool and gave the hat back to McGonagall. She flashed Skyla a brief smile, before she headed over to join her new house.</p><p>The hat progressed on as the crowd of waiting students got smaller and smaller.</p><p>“Longbottom, Neville.”</p><p>”GRYFFINDOR!”</p><p>“Malfoy, Draco.”</p><p>“SLYTHERIN!”</p><p>Ron mumbled angrily under his breath when Draco was immediately sorted into Slytherin. Skyla didn’t quite catch what he said, but, Ron didn’t seem to be terribly surprised at the sorting.</p><p>“Potter, Skyla.”</p><p>The Great Hall fell silent at McGonagall’s words for a brief second, which was immediately followed by a loud buzz of murmured conversation and several students even stood up to get a better look at her.</p><p>“Did she say Potter?”</p><p>“THE Skyla Potter? Here? Now?”</p><p>“Does she have the scar?”</p><p>Skyla gritted her teeth slightly as she uncomfortably made her way up to the stool and sat down upon it, with her right fist tightly closed. McGonagall placed the hat on her head and nothing happened for a moment, until bizarrely, a voice spoke within her head that she did not recognise.</p><p>“Ah… the daughter of Lily Evans and James Potter… how interesting…”</p><p>Skyla wasn’t entirely sure how to interact with the hat, so she simply tried to ‘think’ back.</p><p>‘This is getting ridiculous,’ she thought, ‘even you know me?’</p><p>“I know everything that you know,” the hat said in a flat voice, “and a whole lot more. Your mother and father both sat in this spot, with me upon their head, while I sorted them into Gryffindor.”</p><p>‘And where will you put me?’ Skyla thought nervously.</p><p>“A tricky question,” the hat pondered, “with a complicated answer.”</p><p>Skyla waited while the hat apparently thought deeply about her fate.</p><p>“Your love of reading and your interest in the arcane would be well served within Ravenclaw,” the hat considered, “you would be among like-minded peers who seek academic success and development.”</p><p>‘But?’ Skyla thought, sensing that there was a catch to his words.</p><p>“But, your life of isolation and your strong desire for companionship would leave you wanting within the house of the intellectual elite, who are often solitary creatures. You desire companionship more than outright academic success.”</p><p>‘So, not Ravenclaw then.’</p><p>“No… Hufflepuff would certainly see you among the loyal and the friendly, and you would no doubt make lifelong friends within that house which would satisfy your need for a family.”</p><p>‘But?’ Skyla could already guess how this was going to go.</p><p>“But, you would not be challenged at all and would live a life of mediocrity. Some are satisfied with this and for some this is a blessing, but not you; not the daughter of Lily and James.”</p><p>“Then there is Gryffindor,” the hat contemplated, “Godric himself often said that he would rather die a glamorous death than live forever in a cage. A feeling that you are all too familiar with, no?”</p><p>‘But?’</p><p>“But,” the hat continued, “I suspect that the reckless and sometimes brash nature of the house will leave you feeling uncomfortable among your peers. You are certainly brave to have endured the life you have without breaking, yet you are also wiser than your peers and far less prone to simply throw yourself at a problem without analyising it first. You have bravery, but your courage is not your most defining trait.”</p><p>“Then there is Slytherin,” the hat finished with, “you have ambition, you have drive and you wish to achieve more in this life than simply exist. It is buried deep within your heart but the ambition is there, I can see it within you.”</p><p>‘... but…?’</p><p>“But,” the hat said and Skyla almost thought it sounded as though it were rather amused, “you have far too much loyalty, love and compassion within you to comfortably thrive in that competitive and cut-throat environment. Many of us grow the most in a challenging environment and it can make us become better, however for some people, it can break them. I am not sure that you would do well in that house, I think it may be ‘too’ challenging for you.”</p><p>“Thus, we come back to your first question,” the hat concluded.</p><p>‘Where will you put me?’ Skyla asked once again.</p><p>“Nowhere, is the answer Miss Potter,” the hat answered with amusement in his voice, “because it is not I who will place you. You will.”</p><p>‘Me?’</p><p>“Others have decided your fate for your entire life,” the hat said blankly, “for once in your life; make up your own damn mind.”</p><p>Skyla’s eyes roamed the four tables briefly, however she came to rest upon her house of choice. She didn’t even realise that she had made her choice, however the hat did.</p><p>“GRYFFINDOR!”</p><p>Hermione clapped and cheered as Skyla sheepishly ran over to her, feeling very nervous about her placement but happy to be joining her first, and only, friend.</p><p>“I am glad that you are happy,” the hat pointed out, “but I do still have a job to do, you know.”</p><p>“Oops!”</p><p>The students laughed as Skyla quickly doubled back to hand the hat back to an unimpressed McGonagall, before returning to her house once again and sitting next to Hermione who shifted over to make her some space.</p><p>“Congratulations!” Hermione said excitedly, “I was so surprised when I got Gryffindor and I was really hoping that you would too!”</p><p>“Thanks,” Skyla said with a smile, “did you talk to the hat too? It’s… a bit weird, isn’t it?”</p><p>“Yeah, it really… analysed me,” Hermione said with a small shudder, as it was apparently a rather uncomfortable experience for her, “it wanted to put me in Ravenclaw at first, but it said that I wouldn’t find the companionship that I was seeking there, yet I was too outspoken and bold to be in Hufflepuff, so it went with Gryffindor.”</p><p>“It said something similar to me,” Skyla said with a nod, “in fact it said that about every house, really. Sounded like I didn’t really fit into any house.”</p><p>“Curious that it chose Gryffindor then,” Hermione said thoughtfully, “I wonder why that was?”</p><p>“Well…”</p><p>Skyla looked away and gazed up the ceiling.</p><p>“... I think it was because I just wanted to go to whatever house you ended up in. It… I think it was my decision, in the end, and I wanted to go with you.”</p><p>Hermione’s mouth fell slightly open in surprise, however she quickly closed it and a wide smile emerged instead.</p><p>“That’s so sweet, Skyla,” Hermione said as she wrapped her new friend in a hug, “I’m so glad. I’m really excited to share this experience with you!”</p><p>“Me too,” Skyla said happily as she melted slightly into the hug. Hermione was soft, warm and smelled vaguely of mint, since that had been the only flavour of their snacks that she had actually been interested in.</p><p>Hermione made to pull back after a moment and Skyla, regretfully, pulled back too.</p><p>“Congratulations,” Neville said from across the table with a smile, “welcome to Gryffindor.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Skyla said happily.</p><p>They turned their attention back to the sorting just in time to welcome their newest addition to the house, Ronald Weasley.</p><p>“YES!” Ron cried out happily as he high-fived his brothers on the way and sat down across from the two girls next to Neville, “I knew it! Too much courage in this boy to go anywhere but Gryffindor.”</p><p>“Well, you’re certainly one to take the initiative,” Hermione said in a rather neutral voice.</p><p>“Exactly!” Ron agreed with a nod, “that’s what it’s all about in Gryffindor, you know. Glad to see you get it.”</p><p>“Ickle Ronnikens,” an older, orange haired boy who couldn’t be anything other than Ron’s brother said.</p><p>“You’ve been a Gryffindor for all of ten seconds,” another older boy with orange hair said, who couldn’t be anything other than Ron’s brother’s twin.</p><p>“Perhaps you shouldn’t be telling other people about what Gryffindor values,” the first twin said disapprovingly, “when you are yet to discover the full truth for yourself.”</p><p>“Shut up,” Ron said with his ears turning slightly red.</p><p>“Fred and George,” the twins said as they introduced themselves to the girls, “the unfortunate brothers of this one here. Welcome to Gryffindor.”</p><p>Skyla’s reply was interrupted as an old man at the center of the staff table rose to his feet and tapped on his glass, gathering the attention of the students while McGonagall removed the stool and the Sorting Hat.</p><p>“I have only a few words to say,” he began.</p><p>“Nitwit! Oddment! Blubber! Tweak!”</p><p>He sat down, leaving a surprised Skyla staring at him.</p><p>“What was that?” she asked.</p><p>“That, was Professor Dumbledore,” Fred pointed out, “general madman and world’s best wizard. And this, is the best food you’ve ever eaten, I promise you.”</p><p>He indicated down to the table and Skyla looked back to see that there was suddenly a bountiful supply of overflowing food on the table. It put Sam’s efforts to shame, and he certainly didn’t hold back at all when it came to the volume of food. The students all began to converse loudly while the clinking and clanging of plates and cutlery suddenly flooded the Great Hall with noise.</p><p>Skyla looked back to the staff table, ignoring the food for the moment as she stared up at the old man who was stroking his long, grey beard in deep thought, apparently carefully deciding what to eat. It was almost as if he knew he was being watched however as he suddenly looked up and met Skyla’s eyes. His pale blue collided with her emerald green and the two simply stared at each other for a moment; neither gave anything away from their expressions as they both appraised the other carefully.</p><p>After a moment, Dumbledore gave her a small smile and she hesitantly returned it weakly, before looking back down to the table and serving herself up a modest meal, lost in thought.</p><p>“What was that about?” Hermione asked, who had perceptively noticed the strange interaction between Skyla and the headmaster.</p><p>“Ah, don’t worry about it,” Skyla said with a shake of her head. It wasn’t a topic that she was eager to get into on her first evening at Hogwarts.</p><p>“If you say so…”</p><p>“So how come you didn’t want to back me up earlier?” Ron asked with a mouthful of food, “all you had to do was show your scar and then Malfoy would have been eating his words.”</p><p>“The scar, it’s… it’s very personal to me,” Skyla said quietly, “it’s the only thing that really connects me to my parents. It just has a lot of meaning to me now that I guess it didn’t have before, and I don’t really feel like it’s something that should be used to make a point…”</p><p>“That scar’s practically a national icon though,” Ron said in a muffled voice, “and it’s just a scar on your hand, it’s not like I’m asking you to show your-”</p><p>“No, I get it,” Neville, surprisingly, interjected, “what might be rubbish to one person might be important memories to another. If it’s important to her because it’s to do with her parents, then we should leave it be. I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable at any point, Skyla.”</p><p>“No, not all Neville,” Skyla said with a smile, “I… I didn’t know if anyone would understand it, but that’s nice to hear.”</p><p>“I definitely do,” Neville said with a serious nod, “there are some losses that others just wont understand until it happens to them.”</p><p>Ron just shrugged, apparently not really understanding in the slightest but deciding that he no longer cared enough about it, at least not enough to pause his demolishing of the gigantic plate of chicken drumsticks he was working his way through. Hermione winced slightly at the caveman as he devoured his prey, but she said nothing of it.</p><p>“I’m looking forward to bed,” Hermione admitted with a yawn, “I’m knackered.”</p><p>“Yeah, same,” Skyla agreed, “I hope we won’t be here for much longer.”</p><p>“There’s still dessert!” Ron said indignantly, as if he couldn’t believe what blasphemy he was hearing.</p><p>Hermione and Skyla didn’t see to be the only ones eager to leave as already, a few of the older students had stood up and began to exit the Great Hall. Unfortunately, they had no idea where to go so they were forced to wait until eventually, after dessert had been served and cleared away by magic, McGonagall called out to the remaining students.</p><p>“First years, follow your prefects to your house dorms,” she instructed, “your things will be waiting for you in your rooms.”</p><p>“FIRST YEAR GRYFFINDORS THIS WAY!” Another boy with orange hair (how many were there in this school?) immediately began shouting loudly as he quickly jumped to his feet and inflated with importance.</p><p>“Oh, give it a rest, Percy,” Fred said as he covered his ear with a pained grimace, “we’re all sitting right here.”</p><p>Percy, another Weasley and one of the Gryffindor prefects, guided the crowd of sleepy students all the way up to Gryffindor tower, coming to a stop before a life-sized portrait of a rather large noble lady in a silky pink dress, who was sitting elegantly on a golden chair with her gloved hands resting in her lap.</p><p>“Password?” the lady asked, startling some of the students who had not been expecting a painting to suddenly start moving and talking.</p><p>“Caput Draconis,” Percy said confidently.</p><p>The lady made a sweeping motion with her hand and her portrait swung forward, revealing an empty archway that Percy stepped through. With a shrug, the students followed him through and into the Gryffindor common room.</p><p>“This is nice!” Hermione said happily, as she looked around at the cosy fire place and comfortable lounges.</p><p>“Looks really relaxing,” Skyla agreed, “I’m looking forward to studying in front of the fire there.”</p><p>“Ooh, yes, that sounds great!”</p><p>“Are you two STILL going on about that?” Ron laughed, “we haven’t even started and you’ve already got your noses in the books.”</p><p>“Just how you should be, Ronald,” Percy interjected disapprovingly, “if you want to become a prefect in your fifth year too.”</p><p>“Why would I want that?” Ron scoffed, “that’s years away anyway.”</p><p>Percy frowned, but said nothing more as he turned to the rest of the students.</p><p>“Boys dormitories are on the left, girls on the right,” Percy explained, “your things will already be in your room and the rooms are labeled. Make sure you are in the Great Hall for breakfast by eight o’clock, as your schedules will be handed out then.”</p><p>He adjusted his prefect badge slightly as he trotted back out of the common room with a slight air of superiority. The boys and the girls immediately split into two separate groups, heading up to their own rooms with interest.</p><p>“Here we are,” Hermione pointed out, “look we’re in this room with… Lavender Brown,”</p><p>“That’s me!” A blonde girl spoke up from behind them happily.</p><p>“... and Parvati Patil.”</p><p>“That would be me,” a rather pretty girl of Indian descent said.</p><p>The girls passed polite introductions back and forth between each other as they entered their dorm. It wasn’t a particularly extravagant room by any means; four single beds with curtain rails for privacy, a simple wooden chest of drawers for each student and a shared bathroom attached to the side, with a tall window that looked out over the castle grounds below (though they could not see much out of it in the darkness).</p><p>None of the girls cared too much about the room however, only the fact that it had four tempting looking beds and they each picked one out; Lavender and Parvati took the two on the left while Hermione and Skyla took the two on the right. Exhaustion began to set in for all of the girls after their exciting first day and they eagerly hit the shared bathroom to brush their teeth, change into their pajamas and prepare themselves for bed.</p><p>“What a day,” Hermione sighed as she lay down under her covers.</p><p>“What a month,” Skyla commented as she too lay in her own bed.</p><p>“What a school,” Parvati added from across the room.</p><p>“What a joke,” Lavender said grumpily, “eight o’clock… really… you’d think they’d let us sleep in for our very first day…”</p><p>The other girls laughed and joked around with each other for a few minutes, however it didn’t take long for the tired girls to fall asleep, one by one letting their eyelids close and slip off into a peaceful slumber.</p><p>Skyla was the last to fall asleep as she lay awake for awhile and stared up at the ceiling, thinking deeply about how much her life had changed and wondering what tomorrow might bring. Eventually, she too felt the call of the void as fatigue dragged her down into the comfortable and warm bed, and come the morning, she didn’t even remember falling asleep at all.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. With Friends Like These</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skyla awoke earlier than usual for her first proper day of school, helped along in no small part by the fact that the group of Gryffindor girls had all crashed out rather early the previous night. She blearily opened her eyes and looked around the room to see that she was still lying in her bed within the Gryffindor girls’ dormitory of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; it turned out that she hadn’t been dreaming after all, as she feared may have been the case.</p>
<p>She looked around to see that despite her rather early rise, a certain someone had already beaten her to it and a cheerfully looking Hermione was sitting cross-legged and fully dressed on her own bed, though the two other girls who shared their room, Parvati and Lavender, were still fast asleep.</p>
<p>“Good morning,” Hermione said happily, “sleep well?”</p>
<p>“Good morning,” Skyla replied, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, “not too bad. What time is it?”</p>
<p>“Around six,” Hermione said nonchalantly.</p>
<p>“Bit early to be studying isn’t it? Even for me,” Skyla commented as she noticed the open text book that was lying in front of Hermione on her bed. Hermione blushed slightly for a moment, but replied evenly, “well, I was just refreshing on the content that I thought the first classes might have.”</p>
<p>“But we could potentially have any of seven subjects.”</p>
<p>“Well, six, since we won’t have an Astronomy class until it is night-time.”</p>
<p>“So six, then. Still a lot to study for.”</p>
<p>“Which is why I’m up bright and early,” Hermione replied contently.</p>
<p>Skyla laughed slightly as she headed to the bathroom with a yawn, “well, you’ll forgive me if I don’t join you this time.” </p>
<p>When she returned after a long (and soothingly warm) shower, she found that Hermione was nowhere in sight and she could only assume that the excited girl had already departed for the common room; perhaps now that a few bands of golden light were gradually starting to make their way in through the tall, arching windows of Gryffindor tower, it didn’t feel as strange or awkward to be the first and only one in the common room.</p>
<p>Skyla finished pulling on her school robes and headed down to find her friend, eventually spotting the bushy-haired brunette sitting on one of the comfy lounges. Hermione had rather cleverly lit the fireplace with an impressive display of magical skill (and judging by her satisfied expression she was quite proud of it too). She was currently sitting with her legs tucked up underneath her on one of the large maroon sofas, hugging her knees and staring out absently into the flames while her textbook lay open beside her. Skyla thought it made for a rather cute sight; her excitable first-year friend was simply having a moment before the world around her came to life once more, and it was oddly soothing to watch. She paused in the doorway that led to the girls’ stairs and simply watched for awhile, until Hermione eventually looked around and realised that Skyla was standing there.</p>
<p>“Oh, hey. I thought it might be nice to try using the common room when it was empty,” Hermione explained as she indicated towards the fire, “it’s quite nice down here.”</p>
<p>“It certainly looks cosy and relaxing,” Skyla said with a small smile.</p>
<p>“Do you think breakfast is being served yet?” Hermione wondered aloud.</p>
<p>“We should probably wait and go down with the rest of the house, since we haven’t actually seen what a breakfast here is like,” Skyla pointed out, “maybe it’s customary to go down as a house or something?”</p>
<p>“I suppose… breakfast in our house was usually a piece of toast that was eaten while rushing out the front door, but I know some families have sit-down meals in the morning,” Hermione considered.</p>
<p>The two girls both got cosy on the lounge next to each other and pulled their textbooks out of their bags, having decided to wait. Skyla did enjoy studying in general, but even for her it was far too early to get straight into the heavy books. Still, she was quite tempted by the prospect of sitting and studying with Hermione in front of the warm and comforting fire, so, a little reluctantly, she dragged her potions textbook towards her and set about refreshing her memory on what she had read previously.</p>
<p>Her sacrifice was rewarded in the end as she did find it quite pleasant to sit and study with Hermione; both girls sat close together so that they could compare their notes, with their knees tucked up underneath them and their books resting on their raised thighs. They were both quite small, especially when compared to the large sofas, so there was a certain comfort to be found in huddling together over their books and notepads. Skyla could feel her thigh pressing up against Hermione’s whenever either girl leaned over to compare a note or passage of text, and she wasn’t entirely sure why she found that to be such a nice feeling, but it was. Perhaps it was just the simple fact that it was a physical reminder to her that she was both awake and alive; something that she was still coming to terms with.</p>
<p>They had been sitting and studying for some time when Hermione changed the topic away from potions and transfiguration, which they had been discussing.</p>
<p>“Skyla…” she began hesitantly after dissecting a few of Skyla’s notes, “I was just wondering… what’s up with your handwriting?”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?” Skyla replied, confused.</p>
<p>“Well it’s… I really don’t want to sound mean, but it’s not… very good. Did you… did you not learn how to write properly when you were younger?” Hermione asked as delicately as she could.</p>
<p>“Oh, well, I did learn how to write when I was younger but I just never got to practice it very much over the last few years,” Skyla said with a shrug, “I’ve only been writing again for the last month or so.”</p>
<p>“I see.”</p>
<p>“Sorry if it’s hard to read. I didn’t realise it was that bad…”</p>
<p>“No, no, I can read it just fine,” Hermione quickly said, “it’s not illegible or anything it’s just… maybe I can show you a few things that might help it look a little neater, if you like?”</p>
<p>“Sure, if you think you can help,” Skyla replied, nodding. She didn’t even realise her handwriting was that bad, and was actually rather grateful that Hermione had noticed before she had to submit anything in to a teacher.</p>
<p>“Okay, well see here, how your ‘a’ is quite large at this point, but short here? You actually want it to come down like this instead…”</p>
<p>Skyla did admittedly feel a little embarrassed about having to relearn how to write her out her letters properly, however she also felt quite warm and cosy having Hermione lean across her repeatedly and point each mistake out in her book, so that certainly took the edge off her emotions. She knew that a little embarrassment with Hermione was far more preferable than having a teacher, or other classmates, laugh and ridicule her handwriting in public.</p>
<p>Eventually the sun had risen high enough that the other students had begun to slowly emerge from their dormitories with yawns and stretches, so the girls packed up their cosy setup and prepared to head down to the Great Hall. They weren’t fast enough to escape the notice of Lavender and Parvati however who had finally emerged from the bedroom, dressed in their black school robes.</p>
<p>“Were you two up studying all night?” Lavender asked in shock.</p>
<p>“You were with us when we went to bed, silly,” Hermione pointed out with a laugh.</p>
<p>“How long have you been up?” Parvati asked curiously.</p>
<p>“Since around six,” Skyla shrugged, neglecting to mention that Hermione had been up for an unknown amount of time before that.</p>
<p>“And you’ve been studying all this time?”</p>
<p>“Well, not the ‘entire’ time…”</p>
<p>Lavender and Parvati both simply shook their heads at their dedicated (though they may choose a different word) dorm-mates.</p>
<p>Several older Gryffindor students were starting to periodically emerge and trickle out of the common room in small groups, so the girls collectively agreed that breakfast at Hogwarts must be a ‘come and go as you please’ affair, based on the casual behaviour. They navigated the self-moving staircase without much difficulty, thanks to the older students that they were loosely trailing behind, and the four girls arrived at the Great Hall to find various students already scattered among the house tables, eating from the rather impressive buffets that were spread out in front of them. It seemed that at Hogwarts, breakfast was a rather casual affair as the students of all houses had clearly come down at different times to eat; some had books propped open in front of them while they ate and others were clearly still half asleep, with their elbows on the table and their heads lying on their arms.</p>
<p>After a delicious breakfast, which comprised of a rather colourful fruit yogurt for Hermione and sourdough with poached eggs for Skyla (who reveled in the warmth and taste of the satisfyingly fresh bread), the four girls chatted idly together until they spotted Professor McGonagall making her way down the Gryffindor table with a stack of parchment in her hands.</p>
<p>“Oh this must be our timetables,” Hermione realised.</p>
<p>“Good morning girls,” McGonagall said briefly when she reached the group and began to hand out four copies of the first year timetable, “big day ahead of you, make sure you stay well fed and hydrated.”</p>
<p>“Yes mum,” Lavender muttered quietly under her breath. Parvati snickered slightly, although McGonagall didn’t seem to have heard her (fortunately for Lavender).</p>
<p>“Let’s see… so today it is Charms first, then Transfiguration,” Hermione commented after McGonagall had finished handing over the timetables and departed, “then Herbology after lunch. How exciting!”</p>
<p>“Exciting is one word for it,” Lavender said with a hint of despair in her voice, “we don’t even get any time off until Friday afternoon! What kind of cruelty is this? All week without a break?”</p>
<p>“We still have hour-long lunch breaks,” Skyla reasoned, pointed them out on the timetable, “and it might be nice being able to finish early on a Friday.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, if we survive that long,” Parvati sighed, shaking her head as she sided with Lavender on this one, “three classes every day, two hours each? PLUS extra study? It’s too much. What do they think we are studying here? It’s magic…”</p>
<p>“It’s not that bad,” Hermione said, “on Tuesdays we don’t have a class in the afternoon slot since Astronomy is in the evening, and Potions is our only class on Friday which is three hours and then we are done for the day. I’d say that’s pretty good.”</p>
<p>Lavender and Parvati were not convinced however and continued to grumble to each other for the remainder of their time at the Gryffindor table. Skyla could do little more than shrug; on one hand she did have her own concerns as to whether she was going to be able to keep to an organised schedule as she had never really needed to be organised before, but on the other hand she was rather keen to start studying magic properly and she was more than happy to spend her entire day on it if that was what it needed. At least she had Hermione, and Skyla was starting to get the impression that Hermione was going to be very helpful in terms of organisation and scheduling, at least from what she had garnered when they had compared their notes.</p>
<p>“-clear instructions with a very specific time! Furthermore-”</p>
<p>A rising voice caused the girls to pause and look over to see that Ron and three other boys were being rather publicly dressed down by an annoyed looking McGonagall, as they had only just arrived, well after the eight a.m. assembly time. Many of the students in the Great Hall had already left after receiving their timetables, and the girls had finished eating quite some time ago.</p>
<p>“But Professor, it’s the first day, can’t you cut us some sla-”</p>
<p>“Five points from Gryffindor,” McGonagall said sternly, “and let that be a lesson to you. Organisation and discipline are not only the traits of Ravenclaw, but the traits of all Hogwarts students. You boys best get your act together now; we have seven long years ahead of us and you do not want to make your stay here an uncomfortable one.”</p>
<p>The group of boys, which was comprised of Ron, Neville and two others that Skyla did not know, all slumped their shoulders and sat down to pick at the remainders of the breakfast that was left on the table, looking rather glum. The remaining students of Gryffindor House that had not yet left the table, all scowled at the group with obvious annoyance.</p>
<p>“What was that about points?” Skyla asked, confused.</p>
<p>“It’s written on your timetable,” Hermione pointed out as she leaned over, “right here. Down the bottom.”</p>
<p>Skyla looked to the bottom of her timetable where Hermione was pointing and read the small, neat, cursive words;</p>
<p>‘House Points; teachers, and the Head Boy or Girl, may allocate or subtract points from a house based upon student behaviour. Acts of academic achievement or of personal integrity may gain points, while any rule breaking and immoral behaviour will result in the deduction of points.</p>
<p>At the end of the year, the house with the most House Points will win the House Cup.’</p>
<p>“Do you get anything for winning the cup?” Skyla asked curiously.</p>
<p>“The honour of winning, I suppose,” Hermione shrugged, “seems like a way to cause more division to me. I think it would be better if the points were given to students individually, you know? To reward those who go the extra mile. Maybe you could use it like a currency to buy things within the school or something?”</p>
<p>“That would make more sense,” Skyla agreed, “it would be nice to have something tangible to win.”</p>
<p>“It’s about building teamwork,” Parvati pointed out, “and about everyone pitching in to beat the other houses.”</p>
<p>“Is it?” Hermione wondered as she wrinkled her nose in the direction of the boys who had already lost them points before classes had even started, “or is it just a way for the superior students to drag the undeserving to victory, ensuring that they learn nothing for themselves?”</p>
<p>Parvati looked as though she wanted to argue for a moment, but seemed to think better of it as she just shrugged slightly and turned to engage Lavender in conversation about her hair troubles that morning.</p>
<p>“Well, we better head to class,” Hermione said a few minutes later in a quiet voice, “before we’re late.”</p>
<p>“Oh, you guys go on ahead,” Parvati said with a smile, “we’ll catch up with you.”</p>
<p>“Uh, okay,” Skyla replied with an indifferent shrug as she grabbed her backpack. Hermione sighed softly and did the same, though she looked a little downtrodden as she did so.</p>
<p>After navigating the unpredictable stairs once again, Skyla and Hermione arrived at their classroom on the third floor alongside the Hufflepuffs with which they were sharing the class, and waited outside for their teacher to arrive. A few amicable nods and greetings were given to Skyla and Hermione, however the Hufflepuffs seemed to have already formed strong groups together and they all-but clung to each other in their groups of four or five. Skyla found it interesting that there didn’t seem to be anyone left out within Hufflepuff; she rather admired the apparent openness and welcoming nature of the house, as every student seemed to be involved with their group discussions in some way. The Gryffindor students weren’t overly hostile or anything so far, but as she stood to the side with Hermione and watched Parvati and Lavender arrive, chatting away with Ron and his friends, she did wonder if perhaps there was merit to what the hat had said to her about her potential experiences within each house. Still, it wasn’t as though either Skyla or Hermione were particularly interested in being a part of the conversation anyway, once they overheard Lavender loudly complaining about how it was very unfair of McGonagall to take points from her own house, which Ron wholeheartedly agreed with.</p>
<p>“The name’s Ron Weasley, I didn’t catch yours?”</p>
<p>“Lavender. Just like the flower.”</p>
<p>“Pretty name, almost as pretty as you are.”</p>
<p>“Oh… why thank you! That’s super sweet of you.”</p>
<p>Hermione raised an eyebrow to Skyla with a nauseated expression on her face, which made Skyla chuckle slightly.</p>
<p>‘Excuse me, coming through, yes down here, yes yes…”</p>
<p>An incredibly short, older man came waddling through the crowd of students, attempting to make his way towards the classroom with some difficulty. Skyla thought that he almost looked like a little goblin; he certainly had the height for it. Unlike the goblins that Skyla had met however, this little old man had a very welcoming smile on his face as he made his way to the classroom door, despite his difficulty in navigating the students, and opened it wordlessly with his wand. Skyla and Hermione followed him in, followed a few seconds later by the rest of the students as no-one else had even noticed his arrival. The two girls took front row seats and eagerly took out their books, quills and ink pots, both resisting the urge to grab one of the many ballpoint pens that were in their bags since they both wanted to fit in with the magical world, as inconvenient as it was to still use quills. Skyla hadn’t actually tried to use a quill yet, though she had bought several just in case.</p>
<p>While the students were getting themselves ready, their teacher positioned himself at the front, standing on top of a chair in order to see comfortably across the classroom.</p>
<p>“Welcome to Charms class!” he called out warmly, “for some, a class where you will learn useful spells for every day life. For others, a class that will start you down a lifelong path towards understanding the deeper arcane and all of its intricacies! I am Professor Flitwick, and no matter which path you choose to go down, I will be there to guide you!”</p>
<p>“This is super exciting!” Hermione whispered quietly to Skyla once Flitwick had finished his introduction.</p>
<p>“I know!” Skyla whispered back with a grin, feeling a little giddy about her first class.</p>
<p>“Now, the first thi- oh, you boys back there, could you focus, please?” Flitwick called out cheerfully to the Gryffindor boys in the back row who were loudly squabbling over their seating arrangements.</p>
<p>“Honestly,” Hermione sighed.</p>
<p>“At least we didn’t lose more points,” Skyla reasoned.</p>
<p>“As I was saying, the first thing that you need to know about Charms is that it is a very broad subject,” Flickwick continued, “it can encompass many avenues of magic. Spells that change moods or affect the senses, spells that alter properties such as gravity resistance or cause physical changes in size, or even spells that animate the inanimate. We will be studying all kinds of spells in this classroom and as such, it is important that we focus not on a singular-”</p>
<p>A loud snickering burst forth from the rear as the Gryffindor boys attempted to stifle their laughter at some unknown joke, to no avail. Skyla felt a little awkward once she realised, after turning around to look, that the Gryffindor boys, and both Lavender and Parvati, were all staring at her and Hermione with very poorly hidden amusement.</p>
<p>“Now, really boys,” Flitwick said exasperatedly, “I know it’s your first day and it’s all very exciting, but please.”</p>
<p>“Sorry,” Ron said as his red face emerged from behind his hands, still giggling at whatever had been said. </p>
<p>Hermione met Skyla’s eye and gave her a very unamused expression in response to the antics.</p>
<p>“Perhaps we should move past introductions and straight onto the more hands-on part…” Flitwick said with a small sigh, “we’re going to start with something very simple today, but it is an excellent starting point to allow you to begin practicing your control of magic. Here, would you kindly take a feather and pass the rest back, Miss…?”</p>
<p>“Granger,” Hermione said as Flitwick handed her a stack of feathers, “Hermione Granger.”</p>
<p>After a moment, more snickering came from the rear of the classroom and Hermione snapped her head back towards the group in annoyance. She wasn’t alone, however, as many of the Hufflepuffs were also clearly starting to get annoyed at the group by the disapproving looks being sent towards the back.</p>
<p>“I am afraid I will have to deduct five points from Gryffindor for the interruptions,” Flitwick said sternly, “and if you need to take a few minutes outside to calm down I would recommend doing so as what we will be doing shall require focus. It is simple magic, but all magic has its own complexity under the surface and it may prove trickier than you think.”</p>
<p>“Now,” he continued after silence eventually returned to the classroom and the feathers had been passed around, “the charm that we will be learning today will be the ‘levitation charm’.”</p>
<p>“Ooh!” Skyla and Hermione both exclaimed excitedly as they recognised the spell.</p>
<p>“I take it that you are familiar with this one, then?” Flitwick chuckled at the girls reactions, “it’s fantastic when students come prepared.”</p>
<p>“Well, I haven’t actually tried it before,” Hermione admitted, “but I think I understand the basics well enough. I hope so, anyway.”</p>
<p>“I’ve done it a few times,” Skyla commented, “but I’m probably doing it all wrong.”</p>
<p>“You’ve already achieved it, have you?” Flitwick asked curiously, “well then, would you care to demonstrate the spell for me?”</p>
<p>“Uh…”</p>
<p>Skyla suddenly became very aware of all the eyes that were bearing down upon her, even Hermione’s, and she felt herself seize up slightly. She already had a strange, creeping feel running down the back of her spine from the odd looks she had been receiving earlier, and the idea of performing the spell in front of everyone caused her hands to start sweating and her heart rate to increase significantly. </p>
<p>Had the windows always been this bright inside the classroom…?</p>
<p>“It’s okay Skyla,” Hermione said softly as she gently touched Skyla on the arm reassuringly, “you can do it.”</p>
<p>Skyla looked at Hermione and strangely felt her sudden sense of panic starting to ease. The reassuring physical contact from her felt quite nice and it was almost as if Hermione was absorbing all of her anxiety out of her body with her comforting touch.</p>
<p>With a deep, shaky breath, Skyla slipped her wand out from her forearm holster inside her right sleeve, and aimed it toward the feather that was lying on her desk.</p>
<p>“What a charming wand,” Flitwick commented, “how unusual.”</p>
<p>“Imported wood,” Skyla explained quietly, “though he never did say from where.”</p>
<p>“Exotic indeed, how fascinating,” Flitwick said with an eager smile, “go on! Show us what both wand and witch can do!”</p>
<p>“Wingardium Leviosa!” Skyla said slowly and clearly, swishing her wand from side to side and ending with a little flick, as she had read and practiced several times before.</p>
<p>The feather began to slowly, but surely, rise off the table and using her wand to direct the feather, she lightly floated it several feet above the desk, before letting it fall gently back down again.</p>
<p>“Oh, very good!” Flitwick said happily, “I see you’ve been doing your reading! Excellent pronunciation and perfect wand movement. Take ten points to Gryffindor!”</p>
<p>The Gryffindors whispered among themselves in approval of the points, since it meant that Ron and his friends’ blunders had effectively been wiped off the board. Skyla didn’t exactly get any words of appreciation for her efforts but, she felt rather satisfied nonetheless. She did receive some praise from Hermione however, and to Skyla that meant far more than it would have from anyone else.</p>
<p>“That was really good!” Hermione exclaimed excitedly, “I mean, I really can’t fault anything there. It was perfect!”</p>
<p>“I’m sure there was plenty I did wrong,” Skyla said a little awkwardly as she rubbed the back of her neck, “I was just trying to do it like it said in the book.”</p>
<p>“And as such, it was a textbook result,” Flitwick said with approval, “there’s no need to reinvent the wheel in your first year. You need to know how it’s supposed to be done, before you can think about doing it any other way. Walk before you run!”</p>
<p>“I hope the rest of you were paying close attention, because you’ll all be doing it next.”</p>
<p>There was a slight scramble as the students all pulled out their wands from various locations.</p>
<p>“Now, the key is in the nice clear pronunciation and a confident, ‘swish and flick’, just as Miss Potter did,” Flitwick called out.</p>
<p>“So you know my name too,” Skyla said quietly, “and here I was thinking someone might not recognise me.”</p>
<p>Flitwick simply chuckled in response.</p>
<p>“Of course, my dear. Everyone knows you, especially the staff. Even if you hadn’t been famous by your own right, many of us taught your parents and would have known you from that. A spitting image of your mother you are, minus the hair of course. But that’s a topic for another time.”</p>
<p>None of the other students seemed particularly eager to be the first ones to attempt the spell after Skyla’s impressive display, based upon the many students who had their wands held idly in their hands with no words forthcoming from anyone. It was clearly noticed by Flitwick and he decided to change tactics.</p>
<p>“Alright, let’s do it together then! On the count of three; swish and flick. Ready? One, two, three-”</p>
<p>A chorus of “Wingardium Leviosa!” rang out among the students, however Skyla looked around in shock to see that absolute chaos had broken out in the classroom. Some feathers were sent flying across the room while others had spontaneously ignited in flames; one feather had even been transfigured into a small bird; a very impressive feat of magic, had it been done intentionally (and had the bird not looked a little… disturbingly deformed). </p>
<p>There was only one feather that was gently hovering in the air, and Skyla wasn’t surprised at all to see who it was that had managed to successfully cast the spell.</p>
<p>“Nicely done,” Skyla said with a smile to Hermione, “I guess doing all that extra reading paid off in the end.”</p>
<p>“I’m just glad that it worked,” Hermione admitted, “I wasn’t sure since that it would since I haven’t actually done it before.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t even get it on my first try,” Skyla pointed out, “I messed up several times at first when I was doing it in my room. So you’ve done a much better job than I have, if you factor that in.”</p>
<p>“It’s not a competition Skyla,” Hermione said pointedly, although her little smile at Skyla’s words seemed to betray her thoughts to the contrary.</p>
<p>“Maybe not… but you still win anyway, and you deserve to. You’re far more talented than me,” Skyla said with a small shrug. Hermione smiled warmly in response as she let her feather slowly drift back down to the table.</p>
<p>“That’s very sweet, you know,” Hermione said, “for someone who is rich, famous and clearly quite talented yourself, you are a very humble person.”</p>
<p>“I… if you say so… I don’t really think about what I say sometimes,” Skyla admitted, “I just… kind of say whatever comes to mind.”</p>
<p>Hermione laughed, “that’s what makes it so sweet.”</p>
<p>“Shame you didn’t get any points for that, though,” Skyla said, indicating to the feather.</p>
<p>“Oh… well… it’s not like I was hoping to get any…” Hermione said rather unconvincingly, “but… I guess I can’t really blame him, can I?”</p>
<p>The two girls looked over to see a frantic Flitwick running around the room, attempting to extinguish small fires and return feathers back to their original forms.</p>
<p>“I don’t want to speak too soon,” Skyla said slowly, “but I think maybe we didn’t need to worry so much about being behind the others.”</p>
<p>“I’m starting to get that feeling too,” Hermione agreed with a small laugh as she watched Ron attempt to throw his feather into the air and pretend he was levitating it, looking hopefully in Flitwick’s direction.</p>
<p>In the end, once Flitwick had control of the classroom once again, he assigned everyone with a short essay to complete on the correct method of casting the levitation charm to be handed in next week, along with a physical demonstration of the completed spell. Everyone except for Skyla and Hermione, who had demonstrated her spell to Flitwick once he was less flustered, and they had evaded the homework assignment altogether.</p>
<p>“I won’t make you two do it,” Flitwick said thoughtfully to Skyla and Hermione, “since you have both clearly demonstrated your ability to perform the spell. Instead, try and do a little pre-reading for next week and we’ll see if we can come up with something a bit more challenging for you. Really put you to the test!”</p>
<p>“I’m a little disappointed,” Hermione admitted once they had left the classroom and stepped out into the corridor, “it could have been fun to write that essay, but I suppose we better use that time to practice. Who knows what he’ll have for us next week.”</p>
<p>“You’re disappointed?” Ron said incredulously from behind them as they stepped out into the corridor, “fun to write the essay? Well if you’re so eager you can do mine for me then. Problem solved.”</p>
<p>The two boys behind him laughed loudly, although Neville, who was tagging along in the back, didn’t seem to find it quite as funny as the others.</p>
<p>“Dean and Seamus,” Ron indicated to the two boys, “meet our resident book lovers, Hermione Granger and Skyla Potter.”</p>
<p>“Haven’t had a chance ta’ talk yet,” Seamus said with a nod towards them, his Irish accent strongly coming through in his speech, “but ‘tis a pleasure to meet you, Skyla.”</p>
<p>“Oh, uh thanks,” Skyla said a little awkwardly, while Hermione frowned and looked away in annoyance.</p>
<p>“Ron won’t shut up about you,” Dean, a rather tall, dark skinned boy with a strong east-end accent laughed, “always bangin’ on about his friend Skyla Potter.”</p>
<p>“Yeah well you wouldn’t understand,” Ron said exasperatedly, “you’re from a muggle home. She’s a big deal in our world.”</p>
<p>“Fame is fame, right?” Dean shrugged, “don’t matter whether you are famous in the muggle or the magical world. Don’t mean nothin’ if you can’t back it up.”</p>
<p>“Well clearly she can,” Ron pointed out, “she did the spell perfectly.”</p>
<p>“And pulled your arse out of the fire with those points,” Dean laughed.</p>
<p>“If you hadn’t made me laugh we wouldn’t have lost them,” Ron said, annoyed, “it’s just as much your fault as it is mine.”</p>
<p>“Hermione did the spell just as well as I did,” Skyla pointed out quietly, “better even, since she did hers on her first try. If anyone is important to know it’s her not me-”</p>
<p>“Oh, don’t worry about it, Skyla,” Hermione said with slightly reddening cheeks, “I don’t need their admiration.”</p>
<p>“Potter’s got a point though,” Seamus said, “both of you girls seem to know what you’re doing.”</p>
<p>“Yeah… and I hear you’re giving away free essays,” Dean winked, “wanna do mine? I’ll make it worth your while, trust me.”</p>
<p>“I think it best that you boys sort yourselves out,” Hermione said with a frown, “after all, how else are you going to learn if we do everything for you? No-one else was able to perform today.”</p>
<p>Ron whispered something quietly to the boys which caused Seamus and Dean to snicker and start nudging each other in the ribs, though Hermione and Skyla just stared at the baffling behaviour with confusion.</p>
<p>“Come on, we’ll be late for our next class,” Hermione said briskly, grabbing Skyla by the arm and heading off down the corridor, leaving the boys to continue bantering on their own.</p>
<p>“They seem… friendly?” Skyla suggested hesitantly.</p>
<p>“They seem like boys,” Hermione said with an eyeroll, “just like the boys from my old school. Loud, rambunctious, immature-”</p>
<p>“Neville doesn’t seem to be like that though,” Skyla pointed out, having noticed Neville standing in the rear and hardly saying anything at all.</p>
<p>“Maybe he doesn’t really fit in with them,” Hermione considered, “but if they share a room, then he probably just wants to try and get along.”</p>
<p>“That makes sense,” Skyla said with a nod, “we should probably try and do the same with Lavender and Parvati.”</p>
<p>“Yeah…”</p>
<p>Neither girl had to express their shared concerns about the unspoken divide that seemed to be forming between the two pairs of girls. Even Skyla, who was not particularly experienced with social interactions, could tell that the other two did not seem overly eager to be close friends, especially after the interactions during breakfast.</p>
<p>Thankfully they weren’t late to their transfiguration class, and there were still spaces free in the front row, which the girls eagerly took. They had back-to-back classes with Hufflepuff, which meant that the seating arrangements appeared to be much the same as it had been within Flitwick’s classroom; a mostly empty front row, densely populated middle rows and an empty back row that the Gryffindor boys would no doubt occupy. Skyla and Hermione chose the very center of the front row and began to take out their books, until Hermione noticed that there was a large black cat sitting idly on the teacher’s desk at the front of the class.</p>
<p>“Oh! How cute!” Hermione exclaimed fondly, “I love cats…. you’re a gorgeous little thing aren’t you…?”</p>
<p>“I’ve never really had much to do with animals,” Skyla admitted, “there was a dog once, but…”</p>
<p>She wondered briefly what that dog was up to now. She hoped that he was doing okay, though he may not even be alive anymore. A cheerful thought.</p>
<p>“What are all those tabs in your book?” Hermione asked curiously, pointing to the pieces of paper that were sticking out of Skyla’s transfiguration textbook.</p>
<p>“Oh, I went through and made tabs to help me find things easier, the red ones are for the sections that talk about spellcasting specifically,” Skyla explained, “the blue ones are for theory. The green ones are more background facts or pointers that are good to know, but probably not essential.”</p>
<p>“That’s a good idea, I’ve got a similar system but mine’s a bit different. Let me see what you’ve marked…”</p>
<p>The two girls hunched over Skyla’s textbook and eagerly discussed the contents for some time, comparing their notes and theorising over what they may encounter in their first lesson, and what parts of the textbook they might use. Eventually, the distinctive clap of shoes on stone could be heard coming from outside the classroom and the frantic breathing of several boys running grew louder and louder. </p>
<p>Hermione rolled her eyes without even looking at the source of the noise.</p>
<p>“Phew! We made it!” Ron announced happily as the boys came sprinting into the classroom, “can you imagine old McGonagall’s face if we were lat-”</p>
<p>He trailed off as in front of him, to his immense surprise, the large cat on the table suddenly sprang forward and transformed into the living, breathing, ‘old McGonagall’. The class collectively gasped at the impressive display of magic, though McGonagall did not seem terribly impressed by what she was looking at in return.</p>
<p>“That was bloody wicked!” Ron exclaimed.</p>
<p>“Five points from Gryffindor for your tardiness,” McGonagall said stiffy, “and five points from Gryffindor for your language.”</p>
<p>“What!”</p>
<p>“That’s so unfair!”</p>
<p>The boys protested loudly for a second, however they were almost immediately silenced by a very stern look from McGonagall.</p>
<p>“I will warn you now,” she said through her pursed lips, “I will not tolerate any disrespectful or immature behaviour within my house. As your Head of House and Deputy Headmistress, you should be very aware of the fact that I may remove points, assign detention, write to your families and hand out suspensions or expulsions. If you do not begin to demonstrate the ability to study responsibly and respectfully, then I fear for your chances of making it through the seven years of your stay.”</p>
<p>The boys all stared at her with open mouths while rooted to the spot. None of the boys had ever been spoken to so harshly by an adult before (with the exception of Neville, who had been on the receiving end of his incredibly stern grandmother). They were only shocked further when, without turning around or looking, McGonagall added;</p>
<p>“Five points to Gryffindor for Potter and Granger’s diligence and commitment to their studies.”</p>
<p>The boys stared incredulously at the two Gryffindor girls, who simply looked back and shrugged. Skyla looked away a little awkwardly while she did so, however Hermione met Ron’s stare and smirked directly back. Her smirk slowly faded however and she brought her hand up to her cover her mouth, with her cheeks turning red.</p>
<p>“What is it?” Skyla asked, alarmed; she thought for a bizarre moment that Hermione might have been choking on something.</p>
<p>“If she was listening to us…” Hermione let out from between her fingers in a muffled voice, “she would have heard me call her c-cute and g-gorgeous…”</p>
<p>Hermione buried her face back into her book in embarrassment while Skyla snickered at the realisation.</p>
<p>“I suppose that is the danger of being able to change into an animal,” Skyla mused, “you may just be treated as one.”</p>
<p>“... so embarrassing…”</p>
<p>Skyla chuckled once again at Hermione and after a moment, she looked up to see that McGonagall had returned to her desk at the front. She wondered whether McGonagall might take back those points she just gave them, however the stern older woman was rather pointedly ignoring the two, and almost looked as though her lip was twitching slightly.</p>
<p>“Transfiguration,” she eventually began after the two girls had settled and the boys had taken their seats, “is a branch of magic that is concerned with the rapid changing of matter. Every subject that you will study at Hogwarts will be difficult and will require a good theoretical understanding, however you will find that this subject is perhaps the most difficult of them all. Transfiguration is far more than waving a wand and saying a few words; you will need to have a good understanding of how your target works, in order to change it into another form entirely. This year, we will be working with inanimate objects that have very simple properties, however if you do not stay on top of your studies you will quickly fall behind when we begin to move onto more difficult transformations. I would advise each and every one of you to allocate the appropriate amount of time that this subject deserves, as you will certainly need all of it.”</p>
<p>Skyla and Hermione eagerly soaked in every word that McGonagall spoke, both rapidly jotting down notes as they went. Skyla noticed out of the corner of her eye that Hermione had already pulled out her timetable and was making a few adjustments on it.</p>
<p>“By the end of this week, you will all have transfigured this, into this-” </p>
<p>McGonagall held up an ordinary matchstick, followed by a simple sewing needle.</p>
<p>“A deceptively simply task that you will find to be more difficult than you think. Everyone always does.”</p>
<p>A few murmurs spread throughout the class; it sounded like interesting magic to be able to do and a few students seemed quite eager to begin, even if McGonagall did say it was difficult.</p>
<p>“Now, before we can even think about attempting the transfiguration, we need to understand the basics. We will start with chapter one in your book; understanding matter,” McGonagall said, indicating for them to open their textbooks.</p>
<p>A few groans and sighs spread throughout the class; the interest seemed to immediately evaporate once it became apparent that it was going to be a theory heavy class. </p>
<p>Even Skyla and Hermione both had to admit that the class was more intensive than they had expected, however unlike the students around them who were muttering murmurs of discontent, they both enjoyed the challenge and the unexpected difficulty.</p>
<p>Despite it being more difficult than expected, both girls still raced each other to be the first to answer every question, and had scored themselves (or more to the point; scored for Gryffindor) another twenty points during the process. McGonagall eventually had to point out that she needed to get some answers from the other students in the class and simply informed the two that they could work ahead on their own, as long as they didn’t disturb the others.</p>
<p>“This is really neat!” Hermione commented quietly to Skyla as they spread their matches out on the desk and got to work, “it’s like a combination of muggle science and magic in one subject, which makes sense. You need to understand how things are fundamentally constructed in order to transfigure them, and the properties of objects and materials don’t change between the muggle and magical world. An atom is still an atom and a molecule is still a molecule, no matter how what you do with it afterwards.”</p>
<p>“I haven’t really done a lot of science before,” Skyla admitted, “I get the magical side of this stuff, but the muggle side… I don’t exactly have a lot of experience with it.”</p>
<p>“I can help you,” Hermione said happily, “if something comes up that you need to know I’ll be happy to explain anything to you.”</p>
<p>“Thanks, Hermione,” Skyla said quietly with a small smile, “you’re such a wonderful person.”</p>
<p>“Oh stop it, you’ll make me blush.”</p>
<p>“Right, Professor McGonagall might get jealous-”</p>
<p>Hermione ducked her head away as the bright red colour returned to her cheeks.</p>
<p>The two girls worked in a comfortable silence for awhile after that (once Hermione had calmed down again), gradually turning each match into a long, silver needle. Eventually, Hermione raised her hand.</p>
<p>“Professor?”</p>
<p>“Yes? What is it?” McGonagall asked as she walked over to their desk.</p>
<p>“Can we get some more matches please? We’re out,” Hermione asked, indicating down to the desk which now had an entire matchbox worth of needles lying on it.</p>
<p>Both of McGonagall’s eyebrows met the top of her forehead in surprise at the sight.</p>
<p>“You were only meant to do one,” McGonagall pointed out with a small shake of her head in disbelief, “by the end of the week.”</p>
<p>“Oh, sorry!” both girls quickly apologised, which simply caused McGonagall to shake her head even further.</p>
<p>“Well, I suppose we better give Gryffindor another ten points then…” McGonagall sighed dramatically, as though it pained her to do it.</p>
<p>“... each.”</p>
<p>“Woah!” Hermione and Skyla both exclaimed. They had already worked up quite a few points for their house, and they were only halfway through their first day.</p>
<p>“That’s not really fair,” a Hufflepuff boy spoke up hesitantly from behind them, “they’ve already been given loads of points in both classes and no-one else has been given any.”</p>
<p>“And do you have a entirely completed box of needles sitting on your desk, as these two do?” McGonagall asked seriously.</p>
<p>“Well, no, but-”</p>
<p>“And did you correctly, word for word, explain Roderick’s laws of transfiguration as Miss Granger did?”</p>
<p>“No, but-”</p>
<p>“And did you read your entire textbook prior to class, AND properly organise it for easy referencing and navigation as Miss Potter did?”</p>
<p>“...”</p>
<p>“Then instead of awarding you points for nothing, Wilkinson, I shall await either your full-page essay on the fundamentals of transfiguration basics by the end of the week, or your entirely completed box of needles by the end of the day. Perhaps then, you shall understand just how far ahead of you these two girls are.”</p>
<p>The boy stared at McGonagall in shock, however she refused to back down in the slightest.</p>
<p>“Would anyone else like to make a case for why they disagree with my allocation of points?”</p>
<p>The class stared at McGonagall, however no-one was willing to risk extra homework in the slightest. Eventually the students lowered their gazes and resumed their work, occasionally throwing the odd scowl in the direction of Hermione and Skyla, as if it were somehow their fault.</p>
<p>“You two can go,” McGonagall said vaguely to the pair, “you’ve clearly got the hang of this. This was all we were working on today.”</p>
<p>“Oh, no we couldn’t do that,” Hermione shook her head.</p>
<p>“I’m sure there’s much more we can practice,” Skyla added.</p>
<p>“Take the time off while you can get it,” McGonagall advised, “this subject will quickly advance beyond even your formidable levels. Use the time to ensure that you are as advanced in your other subjects as you are in this one.”</p>
<p>The girls looked at each other and shrugged slightly, not willing to directly reject the advice of their Head of House (and Deputy Headmistress). They packed up their bags and departed the classroom with almost an hour left to spare before lunch, under the mirthful gazes of the remaining students.</p>
<p>“What should we do now?” Skyla asked, “I wasn’t expecting to have free time today.”</p>
<p>“Well… I did want to go and check out the library at some point?” Hermione suggested, “I’ve read that it is the largest magical library in all of Britain! There are entire sections based on spellwork, theoretical knowledge, history and more, and I think it could be fascinating to compare to a muggle library, I wonder just how-”</p>
<p>“We can go and have a look,” Skyla replied with a smile at the eagerness that was plastered all over Hermione’s face. She had to admit that it did sound rather fascinating, and so the two girls headed down to the library for ‘a quick look’.</p>
<p>They ended up missing lunch entirely, and almost missed their first Herbology class that afternoon.</p>
<p>“A quick look,” Skyla scoffed as they ran through the corridors to the greenhouses on the grounds.</p>
<p>“You took out even more books than me!” Hermione countered as she huffed slightly while they ran, “just as much your fault as mine!”</p>
<p>They unintentionally discovered that Skyla was a much better runner than Hermione was as she triumphantly reached the greenhouses first, although they both hoped they wouldn’t need to test that fact again in the future.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was a very clever man, even if he said so himself. He was lost in deep thought as he paced back and forth within the Headmaster’s Office that he had occupied for the previous thirty years, attempting to make sense of things within his rather brilliant mind. An open bottle of brandy rest half-finished upon his mahogany desk and a few unsigned ministerial documents lay scattered nearby; he had been of a mind to finally get around to finishing the signing of the important documents until he had begun to think, and thus, begun to drink, as was practically his tradition by this point. He was a man of many titles; Order of Merlin - First Class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Certainly a mouthful, however he had never particularly cared for most of the titles that had been bestowed upon him over the years. The only title that had ever truly mattered to him was that of Headmaster, and his priority had always been the care of his students. He had always done his best to treat every student equally and fairly as he loved to teach and he hoped to create welcoming environments for the willing and eager young students to learn about both magic and life.</p>
<p>Yet now, it was only one student that he was thinking about it, and her situation baffled even his extraordinary mind.</p>
<p>Skyla Potter. Oh, the questions that he had. He was truly a very clever wizard so it did not take an extraordinary mental leap for him to put two and two together and work out that the girl had not been at Privet Drive, with her muggle family, as he had expected. The Hogwarts letters were powered by a magic that was far superior to his own and the address on the envelope never lied; it was always addressed to what was perceived as home by the prospective student.</p>
<p>Of course, therein lie the problem. Why was Skyla Potter living in a muggle orphanage, when he himself had gone to tremendous lengths to ensure her safety? He had dabbled in blood magic, the foulest of magic, to ensure that she would be kept safe at the muggle premises. He looked over to the spinning, silver instruments that lined the walls of his office and noted the two that were responsible for Skyla; one that monitored her life signs, and one that monitored the wards on Privet Drive. Both were spinning and thus, he knew that Skyla was alive and that the wards hadn’t been breached. He had no idea how the girl had even left the property in the first place, as magic itself was keeping her safe there.</p>
<p>He paused as the thought struck him; had he truly ensured that she would be kept safe in the muggle premises? Or had he only ensured that she would be kept safe? He tried to recall exactly how he had worded the strong blood wards, but he couldn’t quite remember. He supposed, in hindsight, that if magic had deemed the girl would not be safe at the premises, then it may have removed her by its own volition. Both black and blood magic were notorious for being desperately tricky to interpret, word, or understand, and it was why they were so taboo; one simple wording mistake could see a curse placed upon a family for a thousand generations, even though the caster may have only wanted to heal a mild sickness. Perhaps he himself had fallen prey to the trap of blood magic like so many before him; his own caution had given way to hubris and despair. It was why he had been so reluctant to use it in the first place and why he had refused to use it for James and Lily, yet in his haste to protect their daughter, he may have made a grave error.</p>
<p>Regardless, what was done was done. The girl was grown up and was now within the safe confines of the castle where he could watch over her until a decision was made of what to do with the girl. He sighed as he thought back to the conversation that he had with Hagrid regarding the girl, just after the sorting ceremony had been completed the previous night.</p>
<p>“Now, Albus,” Hagrid had said, standing before the headmasters desk, “you know that you have nothin’ but my deepest respect and admiration.”</p>
<p>“For which I am eternally grateful,” Albus had replied with a smile and a slight bow of his head.</p>
<p>“But I gotta know,” the large man had pressed on, “what’s goin’ on with Skyla? Why is she in a muggle ora-pherege or whatever it is called? You made me take that girl off Sirius all those years ago and I brought her to you in good faith that you were gonna’ look after her.”</p>
<p>“Hagrid my friend,” Albus replied with a sad sigh, “I wish I could tell you, but I do not know. I left her in the care of her muggle relatives as I thought it for the best that she be with family; how she ended up in an orphanage remains a mystery. Perhaps I was naive to think that family meant something in this day and age…”</p>
<p>He had eventually managed to placate Hagrid with soft replies and gentle apologies, although when the large and sometimes imposing man left his office, he still had a small frown on his face.</p>
<p>Albus did, of course, have his own theories that weren’t far from the truth, as was expected from the greatest wizard of a generation, although he decided not to share them with Hagrid, lest Hagrid misunderstand and blame him personally for what had happened. The mere mention of blood magic was enough to send unspeakables to the door of any witch or wizard, so Albus needed to protect the information of what had, theoretically, happened to Skyla. If the public knew that Albus had used blood magic on the girl that had gone wrong, and landed her in a muggle orphanage where she was kept in a cellar and apparently underfed and neglected, well… he might as-well start digging his own grave.</p>
<p>It was unfortunate that he could not act any sooner and he lamented the fact that Skyla had been preregistered with Hogwarts as this meant that she had already been considered to be a future student of the school when the letters had been sent out. Had any other muggleborn students turned eleven in an orphanage, he would have been altered that the student may require introduction to the magical world. When Skyla was registered with Hogwarts however, she was considered to be a child from a magical family; the pureblooded Potters, at that (though she herself was only half-blood). Given her status as a member of a magical family, the school simply sent the letter off without a second thought and without any of the muggleborn instructions in place, and it wasn’t until he was alerted that she had not accepted her offer that he had looked into her situation further and discovered the truth.</p>
<p>He did admittedly feel a sense of guilt at having left the girl to her own devices for ten years of course, however he still felt justified in the fact that he was under the impression that her muggle relatives had taken the girl in and raised her in a loving home this entire time. How was he to know that the muggles would take an innocent baby and dump it on the doorsteps of an orphanage? How bad did you have to be as a family for magic to decide that Skyla was better, and safer, being dumped somewhere else? He had spoken the truth to Hagrid on that subject; perhaps he was naive to think that family meant anything to the muggles.</p>
<p>He felt his expensive bottle of brandy calling to him and with a sigh, he sat down at his desk and poured himself another glass. He knew that it wasn’t healthy for a man of his years to drink so much, but, he wasn’t sure these days that he could get through another year without a little artificial help. He knocked back the magically cooled drink with another sigh, contemplating the upcoming year.</p>
<p>It wasn’t all bad, he supposed. He had watched closely as Skyla had communicated with the hat for an incredible amount of time, before eventually being put into Gryffindor. She clearly had made a friend in the muggleborn Granger girl, though he knew little about her at all beyond her name. Ronald Weasley seemed to be close to the pair, for which Albus was grateful; the Weasleys were a good family and he had no doubt that their youngest son would make for a fantastic companion for Skyla, and perhaps even a future husband, he chuckled to himself with amusement. That was many years away however, so he wasn’t terribly concerned about such things, but he thought it would overall be an excellent experience for her, being in Gryffindor. The last thing that he needed was for Skyla Potter to follow the path of the Dark Lord; the irony of her upbringing wasn’t lost on him. It was the Dark Lord himself who had, in a roundabout way, put the girl into a muggle orphanage and set her on the path to follow in his footsteps. If placed into Slytherin, he could have easily seen Skyla becoming a future Dark Lord (or in her case, Dark Lady) by her own right. Perhaps that was the true danger of blood magic; it seemed to have a dangerous sense of irony and a rather cold sense of humour. To take the prophesised chosen one, have her strike down the most dangerous wizard that the world has ever seen, then place her into the very same orphanage that the Dark Lord had lived in, half a century ago? Only blood magic could come up with such an ironic fate.</p>
<p>With no real course of action available to him other than to watch and wait, he simply decided to sit back and observe the girl. If she sought him out, he would considered answering her questions but until she did, he would watch from the shadows and hope that he wouldn’t have to intervene on the poor girl’s life once again.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>That evening, in the darkest corner of the Forbidden Forest, far outside the castle grounds, a shadow began to stir as it slowly dragged itself through the dense foliage. A shadow that was much more than a ghost, yet far less than a man.</p>
<p>A shadow that was only capable of saying two words.</p>
<p>“... Kill… Potter…”</p>
<p>The shadow collapsed and its form split into two wispy clouds of unnatural black smoke that scattered into the wind. Once again, very slowly, the shadows gathered together and the wispy outline of what appeared to be the shadow of a man reformed on the ground and dragged itself a few feet closer to the unsuspecting castle that slumbered peacefully under the stars, blissfully unaware of the impending darkness that was painfully, agonisingly, dragging itself closer and closer, one broken shadow at a time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Echoes of the Past</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skyla’s first day of school had been a rather eventful affair, even before she and Hermione had gone exploring in the library for several hours. They were forced to run at full speed out to ‘Greenhouse One’ in order to make their Herbology class on time, though thankfully, they did still manage arrive before their teacher. </p><p>They hadn’t managed to beat Ron and his friends to class this time around, however.</p><p>“The perfect pair,” Ron said with a distasteful expression as the girls came to a sliding stop outside the entrance to Greenhouse One, “looks like you aren’t so perfect after all. Late for class? Where’s your point deductions for that, hm?”</p><p>“We aren’t late,” Hermione pointed out as she attempted to cover up her heavy breathing and stand up straight with as much dignity as she could muster, “there’s no teacher here. If the teacher isn’t here yet, then class hasn’t started. If the class hasn’t started, we aren’t late.”</p><p>Ron scoffed in response.</p><p>“I bet she’s listening in somewhere, probably hiding out as a plant this time,” he said with a roll of his eyes, “I bet you a entire galleon that she’ll jump out from behind the bushes to deduct more points off Gryffindor, because of you two.”</p><p>“What!?” Hermione exclaimed indignantly, “and who was it that-”</p><p>“Oh give it a rest, Ron,” Neville said with a sigh, cutting Hermione off before she could finish inflating fully, “they’ve handed Gryffindor a ton of points today; we’re in a solid lead because of them. They could lose fifty points and they still would have provided more to the house than we have.”</p><p>“Yeah you girls are doin’ pretty good on that front,” Dean nodded in acknowledgement, “shame we don’t get anything for winning the cup though.”</p><p>“It’s the first day,” Seamus laughed, “with you in Gryffindor I bet we’ll still come last.”</p><p>“Oh, and what’s your contribution? You ain’t even opened your book since you bought it-”</p><p>The two boys bantered back and forth while Ron glared at Hermione, who icily stared back. Eventually he simply huffed and walked off towards the other side of the greenhouse, dragging his friends, and a reluctant looking Neville, along with him.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Skyla asked the visibly-seething Hermione after the boys had left.</p><p>“Am I okay? Not until I slap that obnoxious boy back to the stone age.”</p><p>“Well we certainly have provided a lot of points to Gryffindor, even if we did lose points it-”</p><p>“It’s not about that,” Hermione said, frustrated, “it’s obvious they have been talking about us all day and who knows what they have been saying behind our backs. Doesn’t that get under your skin?”</p><p>Skyla shrugged, “well, I suppose we’re an interesting topic to talk about.”</p><p>“Besides all of that,” Hermione continued with a huff, “he clearly doesn’t even want to be here and he doesn’t appreciate the advantage that he had growing up in a magical household. He seems lazy, self-entitled and arrogant. This is such a fantastic opportunity that many people would kill for, and he is taking up a spot in a school that he doesn’t even want to attend.”</p><p>“I suppose you have a point there,” Skyla conceded, “but then, this is the only world that he’s ever known, so to him it’s probably completely normal and nothing interesting. I bet we’d be the same way if someone was really interested in the muggle world.”</p><p>“You’re just being nice,” Hermione huffed, “we both would appreciate the opportunity to learn, wherever it was. That boy is seriously such a ungrateful-”</p><p>Skyla didn’t get to find out exactly what Ron was, as Professor Sprout had finally arrived and begun to open up the greenhouse, which forced the girls to rejoin the collective group of students that were waiting to go in, alongside Ron, Dean and Seamus. Hermione and Ron glared daggers at each other and immediately found their ways to the opposite side of the room once inside, however neither said anything further while they had a teacher in such close proximity.</p><p>“Welcome to Greenhouse One!” Professor Sprout announced loudly to the students as everyone began to form a circle around her in the center of the crowded greenhouse, “now, in here you will find a variety of useful plants that we are going to be studying in detail throughout the year! I am Professor Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff House, and I’ll be teaching you all about the wonderful world of magical plants and their importance to our lives.”</p><p>“Look at that… thing!” Lavender gasped loudly, pointing across the room to a collection of strange looking vines that were wriggling and moving up the glass wall. It was a little unsettling to watch a vine actively moving its entire body around as if it were a snake, and it gave Skyla a few chills down her spine. She thought she recognised it vaguely though…</p><p>“I’ve read about that one!” Hermione exclaimed, “it was in a book I got from Flourish and Blotts called Fabulous-”</p><p>“-Flora and Fauna,” Skyla finished for her with a chuckle, “I got it too, it was on display. I’ve only skimmed through it though.”</p><p>“I was really glad that it was on sale,” Hermione admitted, “it meant that I could sneak it into the budget, but it was quite interesting and definitely worth it.”</p><p>“You’ve read F.F.F.?” Neville asked, as he appeared to Skyla’s side, “sorry for eavesdropping but…”</p><p>“Neville?” Skyla asked in surprise. Neville had apparently split off from his group of friends to stand next to them, and his friends (especially Ron) were collectively staring at him as though he were conducting mutiny.</p><p>“Just between us,” Neville said quietly, “I get the impression that those three aren’t particularly interested in Herbology.”</p><p>Hermione laughed, looking back over and meeting Ron’s angry stare with her own look of contempt.</p><p>“You’ve read the book too?” Skyla asked curiously, “I didn’t think that many people would have read it. It wasn’t on our reading list or anything.”</p><p>“I love Herbology,” Neville said fondly, “even if it’s not the most popular subject. My grandmother was a mediwitch, and she relied heavily on brewing potions from magical plants. Herbology isn’t just useful for that though, its dead useful for just about every other subject there is-”</p><p>“Absolutely correct there, Longbottom!” Sprout called out to the group, making them jump, “you’ll make a fine professor one day, but perhaps while I’m talking is not the right time to start your career!”</p><p>Neville sheepishly fell silent as a few of the students snickered in his direction.</p><p>“Now, if you will, gather around and pay attention,” Sprout said, causing the students to huddle closer.</p><p>“As Mr Longbottom said, Herbology is an extremely underappreciated field that is absolutely essential to almost every other specialisation of magic. You want to brew a bewitching potion? Good luck doing that without knowing the right herbs and fungi to use, you’ll just poison someone. You want to heal a cursed wound? Good luck healing it without understanding the subtle properties of essential flowers and roots, otherwise those cursed wounds are never closing. You decide that you want to transfigure that tree over there into a walking bodyguard to settle a grudge? Good luck achieving that impressive feat of magic without understanding just how deep the roots run, or what kind of magic the bark may be resistant to.”</p><p>Skyla felt a little guilty as she listened to Sprout for having neglected her Herbology studies already. She had looked over her books vaguely on the subject, however she wasn’t really sure what to focus on learning for the subject, and instead she had instinctively found herself seeking our her charms, transfiguration or potions books. She hadn’t realised that Herbology had so many applications until Sprout had pointed it out; the thought of ‘gardening’ in any capacity hadn’t really held any meaning to her, neither when she was locked in her cellar nor when she was living in a room above the Leaky Cauldron. She hadn’t exactly seen a lot of green in either place, let alone done any form of gardening before.</p><p>“Now, we’re going to be starting very small scale in Greenhouse One,” Sprout informed them, “but don’t make the mistake of thinking that these plants are safe or simple. There’s nothing lethal in this greenhouse, however unless you fancy a trip to the hospital wing and a very, ‘very’, uncomfortable overnight stay, I suggest you don your dragonhide gloves, dragonhide boots if you haven’t already, and your protective goggles.” </p><p>Chatter broke out among the students as they collectively reached into their backpacks and began equipping their safety gear.</p><p>… all except for one particular student.</p><p>“I think I left mine at home,” Ron said to Sprout with slightly red ears.</p><p>“Not to worry, I think we have some spare goggles over there in the corner,” Sprout replied vaguely, waving her hand in the direction of the corner.</p><p>“No, I mean… the rest of it.”</p><p>“What are you missing?”</p><p>“Well, I don’t have my gloves or boots either. I forgot to pack them.”</p><p>Sprout raised an eyebrow at him.</p><p>“I’m surprised your brother Percy let you forget them,” Sprout said disapprovingly, “I thought the brother of one of the brightest students to come through Hogwarts would be a little more diligent. Even Fred and George at least bring their equipment to class, even if they hardly use it…”</p><p>Ron stared off bitterly to the side as Sprout reprimanded him, though her chastising was admittedly rather tame in comparison to the dressing down he would have received from McGonagall. Hermione simply watched on from a distance with a smirk of satisfaction at the sight.</p><p>“Ha!” Hermione exclaimed with content, “maybe this will teach him something…”</p><p>Skyla stared at the scene with mixed feelings. She felt as though she was supposed to be sharing an enjoyable moment with Hermione, since she was clearly quite pleased with the sight, yet something about the way that Ron stared off mournfully into the distance without meeting anyone’s eye while being admonished… </p><p>… it reminded her of herself, and her time at the orphanage.</p><p>To Hermione’s immeasurable surprise, Skyla suddenly stepped forward and crossed the room, opening her bottomless bag and pulling out a pair of dragon-hide gloves.</p><p>“These may not fit,” Skyla admitted, “but if they do, you can have these. I brought two, just in case mine broke. Same with these.”</p><p>She handed the extremely stunned Ron two black dragon-hide gloves and a pair of simple, clear goggles.</p><p>“The gloves are enchanted to stop you from dropping anything while wearing them, and the goggles will clear any fog away on their own,” Skyla pointed out, “I thought having an extra set might be useful. Hopefully they will do?”</p><p>“Oh, wonderful!” Sprout said happily, “what a generous friend you have! Ah… but of course… Skyla Potter. I should have known; Lily and James would have never left a friend hanging. It’s a pleasure to see their daughter upholding their values!”</p><p>Skyla blushed slightly at the praise, however she felt a warmth in her chest at the thought that she was doing something her parents would have agreed with.</p><p>“Well, you’ll be fine without the boots for today Mr Weasley, but you best get them sent out to you immediately otherwise I’m afraid I won’t be able to let you back in.”</p><p>“R-Right…”</p><p>Ron stared down at the gloves for a moment in astonishment, before slowly pulling them on. They were too tight at first, however after a moment the gloves seemed to expand of their own accord to accommodate his hands.</p><p>“Where did you get these?” Ron asked in surprise.</p><p>“Twilfitt and Tattings,” Skyla explained, “they make some really neat things in there.”</p><p>“Some really expensive things,” Ron pointed out with raised eyebrows, “I’ve never even been inside. There’s no way I can accept these, they must be worth a dozen galleons.”</p><p>“I don’t actually know how much they were,” Skyla admitted, “but you can have them. As I said, they were spares anyway and I much prefer my ones.”</p><p>She pulled out her own gloves and Ron ogled in astonishment at the bright pink dragonhide gloves, that had a thick outer layer of protective scaling and a smooth, cream-coloured surface on the palms and inside of the fingers.</p><p>“Oh ho!” Sprout chuckled at the sight, “those are… quite exuberant.”</p><p>“I like them,” Skyla said happily.</p><p>“Well that’s what matters, dear,” Sprout laughed.</p><p>“Anyway, now that we’re all kitted up,” Sprout announced to the rest of the students, “gather round the table down the end here-”</p><p>The students turned and followed Sprout to the back of the greenhouse where a series of palm-sized pots were neatly lined up in rows, filled with dirt and housing small seedlings that all appeared to be the same plant. Skyla didn’t recognise them and she peered down at the seedlings with interest, noting that most of them had a rather long stem starting to form with a single green leaf budding at the top. Hermione wasn’t paying any attention to the plants at all and was, instead, giving Skyla a very strange look, though Skyla just assumed that it must be about her gloves. She noticed that was the only one who had coloured gloves on and she was getting a few amused looks from the other students at her choice of colour.</p><p>“We’re going to be working on these for the next three weeks so you better get familiar with these plants,” Sprout explained, “can anyone tell me what they are called?”</p><p>The students collectively peered down at the plants and the Gryffindors looked expectantly at Hermione and Skyla, however it was someone else who claimed the first answer.</p><p>“Horned Itchweed!” Neville said excitedly, “it’s naturally found in the south but is grown all over the world for soothing potions and other uses. It requires a particular amount of sun and is known to have very sensitive receptors on the surface that respond to physical contact and to temperature. I’ve heard that you can even substitute it into a Felix Felicis if the maker is skilled enough which can produce an easier version of the potion and it’s possible to-”</p><p>“Correct, Professor Longbottom. Take five points,” Sprout said in amused voice, cutting off his long-winded explanation while the other students chuckled. Neville sheepishly turned slightly red, however he still seemed rather pleased with himself, which caused Skyla to chuckle at the sight.</p><p>“There are no points for guessing what it does to you if you touch it with your bare skin, hence the gloves. Needless to say, there will be an awkward conversation with Madam Pomfrey if you scratch yourself in the wrong places afterwards. Now, we’re going to be raising these from seedlings all the way through to their maturity. You’re going to be working in groups of three and documenting your progress in a journal. You best get your groups sorted out now, then we’ll move on.”</p><p>There was a slight scramble as some students immediately began to cling to those they wished to partner with, and other students looked around wildly for anyone who was not already in a preexisting group. Skyla spotted Lavender and Parvati standing with what could only be Parvati’s identical twin sister in Ravenclaw while Ron, Dean and Seamus quickly huddled together, whispering conspiratorially and giving Neville the occasional look over their shoulders.</p><p>At least for Skyla, Hermione and Neville, things seemed to simply fall into place.</p><p>“I guess it’s us three then?” Hermione suggested, “if you want to, that is.”</p><p>“Sure,” Neville replied happily, “you know, I’ve actually grown these before, at my house.”</p><p>“Really?” Skyla asked with interest.</p><p>“Yeah, as I mentioned earlier I live with my grandmother who used to be a mediwitch and we have a small greenhouse out the back with some essential plants in case we need to brew some potions. It’s mostly just me who uses it these days though. It’s quite peaceful out there.”</p><p>“I was never much of a green thumb,” Hermione admitted, “my parents and I often moved from rental to rental so we never did much with the gardens besides mowing.”</p><p>“I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I’ve seen anything green,” Skyla said with a slightly nervous laugh, “so I’m happy to team up with someone who knows what they are doing, Neville. Although,” she added, “maybe someone else better do the actual writing...”</p><p>“I’m happy to manage the journal,” Hermione offered, “I love taking notes and organising documents.”</p><p>“That works for me,” Neville said happily, “I know how to grow these and maintain them but… writing journals and stuff like that was never really my strong suit…”</p><p>“Okay, great,” Hermione nodded contentedly, “Neville can manage the plant, I’ll manage the journal-”</p><p>“-and I’ll… uh… provide moral support?” Skyla suggested, causing Neville and Hermione to laugh.</p><p>“Everyone sorted?” Sprout called out to the newly formed groups, getting their attention once again, “right. The first thing that we have to do is re-pot the seedling from its current pot into a larger and more suitable home for it to grow. This can be tricky for plants that are magical in nature, as they are often very reluctant to uproot themselves…”</p><p>Sprout demonstrated by lightly poking one of the seedlings, and the class murmured with surprise as the seedling began to wiggle and shake in what appeared to be annoyance.</p><p>“Be careful not to damage them,” Sprout warned as she began to hand out the pots to each group, “it takes a full week for the seedling to develop so if you damage it, you will be setting yourself back an entire week!”</p><p>“The trick is to run your fingers along the stem,” Neville explained privately to Skyla and Hermione after they had received their pot, “as long as you go ‘with the grain’ you won’t be stabbed by the small horns along the stem and it will relax. Just… don’t try it without gloves. Take my word for it…”</p><p>The class eventually began their attempts to re-pot the rather combative seedling (which had a tendency to wriggle and thrash wildly at the slightest of touches). It seemed that everyone was struggling with the plant, however true to Neville’s advice, all it took was a single gentle stroke down the stem, matching the downward gradient of the small spines. The plant grew deathly still, allowing them to carefully re-pot it in a matter of minutes with hardly any fuss at all.</p><p>“Excellent job!” Sprout commented as she made her rounds among the groups, “take, oh, let’s say ten points to Gryffindor for being the first to complete it.”</p><p>“What if we hadn’t all been Gryffindors?” Hermione asked curiously, “what if we had a Hufflepuff in the group?”</p><p>“Well then I would have given twenty points to Gryffindor,” Sprout said mischievously, “for being welcoming and accepting of others.”</p><p>She walked away, leaving a rather confused Hermione.</p><p>“Hufflepuffs, eh?” Neville laughed.</p><p>“I was almost put into Hufflepuff,” Skyla mused, “but then… I was almost put into every house. The hat let me choose.”</p><p>“Why Gryffindor then?” Neville asked.</p><p>Skyla shrugged, giving Hermione a side-eye look as she said, “just had to pick one, I suppose.”</p><p>Hermione smiled fondly in return, which made Skyla feel rather pleased with herself for some reason.</p><p>“How come you are in Gryffindor?” Skyla asked Neville, “it doesn’t seem like you fit in with the other boys.”</p><p>“Skyla,” Hermione admonished, “a bit blunt, don’t you think?”</p><p>Skyla just shrugged. It was an honest question.</p><p>“You’re right actually, I wouldn’t have chosen Gryffindor personally,” Neville said with a thoughtful look, “but the hat said my ‘ability to accept, my capacity to forgive and my strength to continue in the face of adversity are the bravest traits that any soul can possess.”</p><p>“That’s quite poetic,” Hermione said, sounding impressed.</p><p>“I thought you were a nice person,” Skyla said happily, “I’m glad the hat agrees with me.”</p><p>Neville turned bright red and ducked away, mumbling something unintelligible as he hid his face with embarrassment.</p><p>The rest of their Herbology class proceeded without a hitch and the three made quite a strong team in the end, or at least, Hermione and Neville did. Hermione organised their notes within their new journal perfectly, while Neville set up the plant in its new environment and placed it by the rear wall, where it would avoid the harsh midday sun and catch the gentler morning rays instead. Skyla simply hopped between the two and tried to provide as much help as she could, though she didn’t feel that she had actually done all that much at all in the end.</p><p>“I’m ravenous,” Hermione commented as the three finished their work and departed the greenhouse in the late afternoon, “early dinner for me I think.”</p><p>“I’m practically still full from the opening feast,” Skyla said, “but… I’ll come. Sam wouldn’t be happy if he heard I had refused a meal, ever.”</p><p>“Sam?” Hermione asked questioningly.</p><p>“Yeah, the cook at The Leaky Cauldron,” Skyla explained as they walked, “he-”</p><p>Hermione stopped and looked back, which caused Skyla to pause and follow her gaze.</p><p>“Oh, aren’t you coming, Neville?” she asked.</p><p>Neville had paused just outside the doorway, since Ron, Dean and Seamus were clearly heading out towards the grounds while Skyla and Hermione were heading in the direction of the Great Hall.</p><p>“You don’t have to come with us,” Skyla pointed out with an understanding nod, “I get it. I don’t want you to make life hard on yourself by being friends with us.”</p><p>“No… no, I’ll come,” Neville eventually said with a determined expression, “if they don’t like it… they can stuff it. I’ve had much more fun with you two so far than anything I’ve done with them.”</p><p>“Glad we set the bar so high,” Hermione laughed, “actually doing our work, or losing points for Gryffindor and getting scolded by the teachers… hm… a tough choice…”</p><p>Neville chuckled, “and don’t forget talking rubbish about people behind their back. I don’t mind a gossip sometimes, but…”</p><p>“I got the impression they were saying some cruel things,” Hermione said with pursed lips.</p><p>“Yeah well… I’m not going to repeat anything,” Neville shook his head, “you don’t want to know.”</p><p>“At least you aren’t like that Neville,” Skyla said fondly.</p><p>“I grew up in a pureblood household,” Neville pointed out, “we may not be a large family but I still interacted with some of the other magical children on a regular basis. Magical families can be quite cruel and often exclude others who don’t line up with their way of thinking. We Longbottoms stand out since we don’t buy into all the pureblood hierarchy stuff. I know what it’s like to be bullied and spoken about behind my back and I just don’t think it should happen to anyone.”</p><p>“Well said,” Skyla nodded, “I agree entirely.”</p><p>“Me too,” Hermione agreed, “but can we talk and walk? I’m really hungry.”</p><p>Neville and Skyla both laughed as they joined Hermione, heading towards the Great Hall while Ron, Dean and Seamus all stared incredulously at the back of Neville as he headed into the castle, with the two girls walking on either side of him and a slight spring in his step.</p><p>***************</p><p>Skyla awoke the following morning feeling slightly fatigued, and it was much more of a struggle for her to drag herself out of bed than it usually was. Admittedly, she had gone to sleep far later than usual as neither herself nor Hermione had been particularly eager to spend more time in the dormitory with Lavender and Parvati than was strictly necessary, and they had instead stayed up late with Neville in the common room, sitting in the corner and quietly discussing all things magical. With a combined yawn, the two girls eventually dragged themselves out of bed and began to prepare themselves for the day ahead.</p><p>Unlike the very exciting and eventful start to her first day of school, the start to Skyla’s second day was significantly less engaging and Skyla struggled to keep her eyes open during the first class; something she never thought she would have difficultly with. Perhaps it was the fact that there was absolutely no magic being taught in the class at all, or the extremely stale air in the room that felt as though merely breathing it was causing asphyxiation. There was no air circulation in the room at all and the only source of light was the hint of morning sun coming in through a very small, very narrow window to the side. It didn’t help that the very dry class content was being delivered by someone who had died hundreds of years ago; how the ghost called ‘Professor Binns’ ended up teaching History of Magic was anyone’s guess.</p><p>“You’d think being taught by a ghost would be more interesting,” Hermione complained with a stifled yawn as they departed the classroom after a very long, and very sleepy, two hours had passed. Even Hermione had struggled with the class and Skyla had noticed that Hermione had stopped taking notes after the first forty-five minutes, which was slightly reassuring for her own lack of note-taking.</p><p>“He is dead, after all,” Neville commented from alongside the girls, “the dead aren’t known for being particularly funny or engaging.”</p><p>Skyla was quite pleased that Neville had decided to continue sitting with her and Hermione, as she had been slightly worried that after they had split apart in the common room to go bed, Neville might changed his mind about them after spending a night with the boys in the dormitories. Skyla loved having Hermione as a friend so far, yet she was certainly more than happy to expand her social group beyond a single other person. A lifetime of loneliness left her eager for all the friends that she could make, and Neville was most certainly a welcome addition in her mind.</p><p>“The things that he is teaching are not even really that helpful anyway,” Hermione continued with annoyance, still clearly disappointed with their first history lesson, “what’s the point of learning about who invented the self-stirring cauldron? I’d much rather learn about the history of Hogwarts, or the founders, or even Merlin himself. Self-stirring cauldrons…”</p><p>Hermione continued to grumble quietly while Neville and Skyla both watched on in amusement. She certainly had a point, however Skyla was actually grateful in a way that the class had been rather pointless, since she had almost fallen asleep through the whole thing and hadn’t retained anything from it.</p><p>“How was last night?” Skyla asked Neville quietly as they walked through the hallways towards their next class, “was everything… okay? With the boys?”</p><p>“They didn’t really talk to me much,” Neville frowned slightly, “but I can live with that. If that’s the worse they do, then I’ll consider myself lucky.”</p><p>“Yeah, being ignored is not always a bad thing,” Skyla laughed slightly.</p><p>“You don’t think they would do anything… bad to you, would they?” Hermione asked with a slightly worried expression forming on her face.</p><p>“I don’t think so,” Neville shook his head, “I don’t think they’re bad people, they’re just… different than me. I think they’ll just make their own little group and do their own thing without me.”</p><p>“Well, we’ll just have to make our own group then,” Hermione said briskly, “a group that will actually contribute to Gryffindor and the school.”</p><p>“what, like a team?” Skyla asked.</p><p>“Or a club or something?” Neville mused.</p><p>“No, nothing like that,” Hermione shook her head, ‘just… a group of friends. Who help each other, you know?”</p><p>“Sounds good to me,” Skyla said with a smile, “but I haven’t had any friends before you two so I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do.”</p><p>“I’m no expert on friendship either,” Neville admitted with a hesitant laugh, “I wasn’t exactly popular among the magical families.”</p><p>“Well, I know in theory how it works…” Hermione said hesitantly, “but… I’ve never really had any actual friends before.”</p><p>The three stopped in the hallway and looked at each other for a moment, before bursting out into laughter.</p><p>“We might just be the worst group of friends,” Neville laughed.</p><p>“The blind leading the blind,” Hermione nodded with an amused smile.</p><p>“At least we’re all in the same boat?” Skyla offered with a small chuckle.</p><p>Something about the collective admittance of inexperience helped the three to relax with each other and by the time they had reached their next class, they already felt as though they had a much stronger bond than they had a few minutes ago.</p><p>The next class on their list was Defense Against the Dark Arts and the very mention of the subject generated quite the buzz among the first years. The Gryffindor first years in particular were very excited about the subject, as the prospect of combat magic seemed to be what many of the ‘House of the Brave’ seemed most interested in. Even Skyla felt quite excited as they waited outside of the classroom to enter, discussing enthusiastically with Hermione and Neville what kind of magic they might be learning. It was, at the very least, guaranteed to be better than spending two painfully slow hours learning about some wizard that no-one cared about, who invented something that no-one uses.</p><p>Upon entry to the mysterious ‘DADA’ classroom, the students found a rather normal looking classroom, though the tables and chairs had been stacked neatly to the side, leaving an empty space in the middle.</p><p>“Come in, come in,” a voice called out to the from the rear of the classroom, “just clearing out a little space for us.”</p><p>The students all piled into the classroom with Gryffindor instinctively occupying one side of the room while the Slytherins, who shared DADA for this term, claimed the opposite side; both houses standing around in their huddled groups and giving each other slightly suspicious looks.</p><p>“Oh come on now, come on, we’re all Hogwarts students,” their teacher said warmly as he finished putting away the last of the chairs and greeted them fondly. He seemed to be the youngest of their teachers so far, although Skyla was having trouble correctly guessing his age since he looked quite tired and run-down, which made him look slightly older than he probably was. His robes looked quite cheap and tattered from the various hastily-patched rips and tears, and his medium-length, light-brown hair was marred with multiple streaks of grey. He almost seemed a little ill due to how pale his skin was, however he still greeted them all with a smile.</p><p>“Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts,” he said fondly, “I am Professor Lupin and I’ll be your mentor and guide for the year.”</p><p>“It might be nice having a young teacher,” Hermione whispered to Skyla, “especially for a subject like this.”</p><p>“Young?” Lupin laughed as he turned towards Hermione, making her jump slightly, “you’re not trying to flatter me for house points, are you?” He chuckled once again before returning his attention to the rest of the class once again.</p><p>“His hearing is amazing,” Skyla said, impressed.</p><p>“Yeah… that was… unnaturally good,” Hermione said slowly, with a furrowed brow as she looked him up and down.</p><p>“Now I know that you are all excited to begin,” Lupin said to the class, “so I don’t plan to bog down our first class with a lot of theory. That will come later. Instead, we are going to dive straight into what it actually means to defend yourself against the dark arts. So, before we start, what exactly are the ‘dark arts’? Let’s start with… you!”</p><p>He pointed to Seamus at random, making the boy jump slightly.</p><p>“Uh… well it’s… magic that hurts people,” Seamus said while scratching his head.</p><p>“Not always,” Lupin said with a smile, “not exclusively, at any rate. What about you?”</p><p>He pointed to a Slytherin girl with long black hair that was quite similiar to Skyla’s, though she had brown eyes instead of Skyla’s emerald green and a rather self-satisfied expression on her face (despite having done nothing so far to warrant it).</p><p>“Uh… it’s… stuff that… destroys things?” she said vaguely.</p><p>“Not quite correct I’m afraid,” Lupin said gravely, “in fact many spells considered to be within the ‘dark arts’ cause no visible damage at all. How about… you?”</p><p>He pointed to Skyla, staring deeply into her eyes with an unreadable expression.</p><p>“Oh. Well, I’ve read that the ‘dark arts’ is a pretty broad term but it usually refers to spells that require something in exchange. Blood magic, soul magic, black magic, the kinds of magic that usually requires a sacrifice of some kind from the caster. That’s what differs dark arts from any other spell, at least. Other spells don’t have a ‘cost’.”</p><p>“A very astute observation,” Lupin said with an impressed nod, “spells that belong to the category of the ‘dark arts’ are not there because of what they ‘do’ but because of what they ‘require’. Most people think of spells that cause death when thinking of the dark arts, yet I could use a simple cutting curse to remove someone’s head and it wouldn’t be considered to be a ‘dark’ spell. Of course, it’s still highly immoral, illegal and despicable to do, but that’s because of the decision, not the spell itself. Are you following?”</p><p>A few students were nodding along, while others simply held blank expressions on their faces. Skyla however raised her hand.</p><p>“Yes?” Lupin asked.</p><p>“I was wondering,” she began hesitantly, “I’ve read there are many dark spells that are highly illegal to use, but… why are they so heavily punished? Doesn’t the caster kind of punish themselves by using it?”</p><p>“You are not wrong there,” Lupin said thoughtfully, “for most who use dark magic, the unpleasant consequences of their actions are more than justified. However if there aren’t any additional restrictions placed upon the casting of such spells, then it is the ignorant who become the victims. Ignorance is deserving of education, not criminal punishment.”</p><p>“I’ve always heard that ignorance is never a valid defense,” Hermione pitched in, “does that not hold true in the magical world?”</p><p>“Ah, but now we get into the depths of ignorance,” Lupin smiled, “for there are many kinds. A child who picks up a book and casts an unknown spell is ignorant, but does the child deserve to lose their right to use magic for the rest of their life because of it? A fully grown man who wishes to murder someone without realising that the spell will steal his own soul in the process is ignorant, yet should he be absolved of his sins because of it?”</p><p>Hermione fell silent as she considered his words.</p><p>“You are asking very poignant questions,” Lupin said warmly, “I encourage you to continue looking at the world critically and to always examine what makes up your point of view. However, for this first class, we might just bring it back to the topic of the dark arts, and we can discuss the rather complicated matter of criminal prosecution another time.”</p><p>“Right… sorry, Professor.”</p><p>Lupin waved her apology off with a smile, before turning his attention back to the class.</p><p>“Now, how do you defend yourself against some of these ‘dark’ spells that misguided people may cast in your direction? Well, most of the spells have very particularly defenses that are incredibly complex, and some spells have no defense at all. Yet, there is one simple thing that can always, always, aid you against any aggressor. Can you think what it might be?”</p><p>“Invisibility?” Dean called out.</p><p>“A shield charm?” Skyla suggested.</p><p>“A dog?” Lavender guessed.</p><p>“What? No,” Lupin laughed, “although a shield charm is a useful spell to have in your arsenal. No, I am talking about the very simple, but highly effective, disarming spell.”</p><p>“Oh… that makes sense,” Skyla considered, “why bother with a complicated defense if you can just remove their ability to cast.”</p><p>“Exactly!” Lupin said with approval, “now, there are a few elite witches and wizards out there who can cast wandless magic, yet it is exceptionally difficult and even if they do switch to wandless magic, they will not be as fast or as effective as if they had their wand.”</p><p>“But wandless magic isn’t terribly difficult,” Skyla said with a frown, “and I’ve never noticed it being slow or anything…”</p><p>Lupin raised an eyebrow at her.</p><p>“You are saying you can do wandless magic?” Lupin asked skeptically.</p><p>“Well not like… levitating things and such,” Skyla admitted, “but I can do this-”</p><p>She held out her palm and summoned her small ball of blue light, which she proceeded to float out into the middle of the room, to the astonishment of everyone present.</p><p>“-although I guess doing actual combat magic would be quite tough. I’ve never tried anything… that was… particularly…”</p><p>Skyla trailed off as she realised that everyone, including Hermione and Neville, were staring at her with shock on their faces. Suddenly growing anxious, she quickly withdrew the orb of light to her palm and closed it, removing it from existence. She took a step back nervously, regretting having stepped forward at all.</p><p>“That’s some seriously advanced magic,” Lupin said, sounding very impressed, “you’ve inherited your mother’s gift, no doubt.”</p><p>“You knew my mother?” Skyla asked. She didn’t know why she even asked; it seemed as though everyone in this magical world knew her parents in one way or another.</p><p>“Oh… you could say that we’ve met,” Lupin said with a sad smile as he thought of Lily and James.</p><p>“That’s incredible,” Hermione whispered to Skyla excitedly, “I didn’t know you could do that!”</p><p>“I didn’t think it was a big deal!” Skyla whispered back with concern, “is… is it weird? Is there something wrong with me? I thought everyone might be able to do it…”</p><p>“No, that’s very rare,” Hermione said with a shake of her head, “but it’s also very cool! You have to show me how you do it later!”</p><p>“I don’t know how I do it, I just… do it?”</p><p>“Okay well, unnaturally impressive magic aside, let’s move on with the class,” Lupin laughed slightly with a shake of his head, “a lot to get through today and we’re going to run out of time otherwise.”</p><p>“Sorry…” Skyla apologised quietly.</p><p>“Never apologise for your achievements,” Lupin said firmly, “wear them proudly. You can do what many people will never achieve, hold onto that.”</p><p>Skyla’s cheeks turned slightly red as everyone stared at her once again, and she retreated a few steps back towards the wall, until everyone eventually looked back to Lupin.</p><p>“Now, the disarming spell itself is not particularly difficult to cast, nor is it fancy in its wand movements or incantation,” Lupin continued to the class, “everyone in this room will be able to cast it. The real question becomes how powerful can you make the spell, and how accurate can you be with it?”</p><p>At his words, a few of the Gryffindor and Slytherin boys perked up.</p><p>“I think I shall need two volunteers to help me demonstrate,” Lupin called out, “would anyone like to try it?”</p><p>Silence permeated the classroom; a few people looked as though they were on the edge of stepping forward, however no-one did.</p><p>“Really? No-one? Well then… let’s get you,” Lupin pointed to the black-haired Slytherin girl who jumped in surprise, “and you,” he pointed towards Ron, who was leaning against the wall at the very back.</p><p>“You two, come up here. Don’t fret, it’s nothing stressful,” Lupin said with a wave of his hand, “it will be fun. Come on.”</p><p>The surly looking Ron and the hesitant Slytherin girl both stepped out towards the center of the room, as each house began to cheer on their ‘champions’ in support.</p><p>“Show this Gryffindor how it’s done!” Draco called out with a laugh.</p><p>“You can’t lose to a girl!” Seamus yelled to Ron.</p><p>Lupin simply watched on with an amused expression.</p><p>“Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do,” Lupin instructed, “you both stand across from each other - just like that - and then when I say ‘go’, you’ll both flick your wands towards your opponent and say ‘expelliarmus’ nice and clearly.”</p><p>Ron gripped his wand tightly in his hand as a visible beat of sweat ran down from his brow, while the Slytherin girl narrowed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. The Gryffindors and Slytherin resumed their cheering as Lupin began his countdown.</p><p>“Ready? Set? Go!”</p><p>“Expelliarmus!” </p><p>Matching cries came from the two students as they shouted and flicked their wands forward. A jet of scarlet light shot from both wands and collided in the middle, however it seemed that the Slytherin girl was far superior in strength as it blasted straight through the center of Ron’s spell, splitting his jet of light into two shards that fizzles out in the air. Her own blast collided with Ron’s right hand and sent his wand spinning uncontrollably onto the floor with a loud rattle.</p><p>“Bravo,” Lupin said with a smile, “five points to Slytherin.”</p><p>“Good work, Pansy!”</p><p>“Way to go, Pans’!”</p><p>The Slytherins cheered on as a smirking Pansy returned to her house, being congratulated and admired while Ron picked up his wand and angrily stomped back to the Gryffindors. Skyla was quite impressed; the girl had seemed rather unintelligent and disinterested, however the sheer force behind her spell made Skyla suspect that Pansy was far more experienced than she was letting on. Skyla looked around and realised that none of the others had actually noticed the wave of energy the girl had released upon casting her spell; the other students seemed to be under the impression that Pansy had simply won out on technique or skill.</p><p>“I let her win, you know,” Ron said with a furrowed brow, “just… being a good bloke, you know?”</p><p>“Uh huh.”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>“Excellent work from both of you,” Lupin called out, “now… who’s next?”</p><p>A queue began to form on either side of the room as the Gryffindors and Slytherins lined up, each side cheering on, or groaning in commiseration, as the duels took place one by one. After Dean and Lavender had both faced off against a Slytherin boy (called ‘Nott’ from the cheers) and a Slytherin girl (called ‘Daphne’), Skyla found herself at the front of the line, facing none other than Draco Malfoy.</p><p>“Potter,” Draco said, appraising her from head to toe, until his eyes rested on her hand, “what the hell is that thing?”</p><p>“What?” She asked defensively, gripping her wand a little tighter, “it’s my wand?”</p><p>“Why is it pink?” Draco laughed, while the rest of the Slytherins chuckled along.</p><p>“Why is yours black?” Skyla countered, “that’s boring, isn’t it?”</p><p>“I’m not sure I can attack this girl,” Draco scoffed, “given that she is apparently five years old.” </p><p>The Slytherin’s laughed, however Skyla felt rather angry at his words.</p><p>“Well don’t go crying to mummy then when I disarm you,” Skyla said crossly.</p><p>“Don’t you talk about my mother,” Draco snapped, “at least I have one.”</p><p>A chorus of “oooh’s” came from the Slytherin side, while several indignant Gryffindors began to shout back on Skyla’s behalf.</p><p>“That’s far enough,” Lupin warned firmly, “keep it civil or I start docking points. Ready?”</p><p>Skyla and Draco both gripped their wands and held them out, with anger and determination lining their features.</p><p>“Set-”</p><p>“Expelliarmus!” </p><p>Draco caught Skyla by surprise as he flung the spell early, sending a bolt of scarlet light towards her. </p><p>Working on pure instinct, Skyla had no choice but to throw herself to the side in a wild dive to avoid the spell, however since she was so small and light, she was able to turn her sudden dive into a graceful roll at the last second and she quickly rolled back up onto one knee, aiming her wand directly at Draco from her crouched position.</p><p>“Expelliarmus!” </p><p>The spell caught Draco completely by surprise and he didn’t react in the slightest as the jet of scarlet light struck him in the center of his chest. Skyla had been expected to triumphantly witness his wand go spinning out of his hand, however to her complete shock the spell struck him in the chest and sent him flying straight back into the Slytherins behind him, sending them all collectively sprawling over the floor in a comical display. His wand did go clattering to the floor as it flew from his hand, however it wasn’t exactly done in the way that Skyla had been planning.</p><p>The Gryffindors roared loudly with laughter at the sight, as the Slytherins attempted to untangle themselves from the chaotic twister that was now forming on the ground.</p><p>“Get off me!”</p><p>“Ow that’s my hair!”</p><p>“Your foot is stuck in my robes!”</p><p>Skyla couldn’t help but chuckle a little as Hermione and Neville rushed over to her, pulling her back onto her feet.</p><p>“That was incredible!” Neville said excitedly.</p><p>“How did you react so quickly?” Hermione asked in shock.</p><p>Skyla just shrugged, “just… seemed like the thing to do.”</p><p>“That one I would say you inherited from your father,” Lupin said fondly.</p><p>“That’s completely unfair!” Draco suddenly shouted as he finally finished untangling himself and returned to his feet, “she cheated!”</p><p>“You… you what?” Skyla exclaimed in disbelief to the boy who had jumped the gun early.</p><p>“She used a dark spell!” Draco continued on angrily, “she should be expelled! or… arrested!”</p><p>“Mr Malfoy,” Lupin said directly, “she used the same spell that you did. It was merely that her spell was extremely powerful, which caused a knockback effect. It can happen, though I must admit I wasn’t expecting anyone in this class to do it.”</p><p>“She’s a freak!” Draco said with venom as he glared at her angrily.</p><p>Skyla slowly came to a stop as the world fell silent around her. Her smile dropped from her face as she heard the words echo within her mind, and despite the fact that Hermione and Neville were still talking to her, she could no longer hear anything at all. She merely thought of the uncaring hand gripping her head as she was thrown roughly down the stairs into the cold, dark cellar and the scraps that she picked up off the floor to eat, grateful for any kind of food, no matter what it was. She couldn’t help but wonder; what was she even doing here? This was madness. She should be home, where she belonged, in her cellar. Where she couldn’t hurt anyone, where she could live without the guilt of existing, without the responsibility of living while knowing she was nothing but a burden to everyone, a freak, something unnatural, that deserved only to be locked away from sight-</p><p>“Skyla? Skyla?”</p><p>Skyla blinked slowly, realising that someone was shaking her rather roughly by the shoulders. She realised that it was a very concerned looking Hermione, who was shaking her as though she were a particular compacted salt shaker.</p><p>“Hermione, my brain,” Skyla laughed, “you’re gonna rattle it out of my head.”</p><p>“Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.</p><p>“Yeah… I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” Skyla asked curiously.</p><p>“Uh… because you were just standing there for like two minutes?” Hermione exclaimed, “I thought you had been cursed or something…”</p><p>“Oh? No I just… had a moment,” Skyla said airily.</p><p>Hermione didn’t seem convinced, but Lupin spoke over the top of her.</p><p>“Perhaps we should finish there,” he said, holding his hands up as the students who hadn’t got to have a go protested loudly.</p><p>“We’ll do some more later in the week,” Lupin promised, “everyone will get a chance to try it, do not fret. For now, let’s get the classroom restored, we have a few things we still need to cover…”</p><p>Disappointed groans circled around the room as the students reluctantly began to pull the tables and chairs back out from the sides. Eventually, the students had all occupied seats within the room, though the Gryffindors and the Slytherins were still split entirely down the middle. The rest of the class was still rather interesting as they discussed the application of the disarming spells and what kind of situations they might find it useful for (such as a muggle knife attack to harmlessly defuse the situation), however Skyla was noticeably less enthusiastic as she sat at her desk and idly jotted down some notes.</p><p>“Alright, I’ll see everyone on Thursday,” Lupin called out as the class ended and the students rose to their feet, “we’ll continue our work on disarming then!”</p><p>“What a lesson,” Neville commented as he packed up his books.</p><p>“It was really engaging,” Hermione agreed, “Professor Lupin seems like he’s really thought about how to deliver his content.”</p><p>“Yeah, exactly, he didn’t just bore us to death like a certain professor tried to earlier,” Neville laughed. </p><p>“Are you… are you sure you’re okay?” Hermione asked Skyla, who thus far, hadn’t said a word.</p><p>“Me? I’m fine. Yeah that was a really good class,” Skyla said happily, though her eyes did not quite meet her statement. Hermione pursed her lips but she refrained from saying anything further, which Skyla appreciated.</p><p>“Ah, Skyla, a word?” Professor Lupin called out to Skyla as they made to walk past his desk, and she paused. Lupin waited for a moment, until the rest of the students had shuffled out of the room, leaving only Skyla, Neville and Hermione standing there.</p><p>“We’ll uh, just wait outside then,” Hermione said hesitantly.</p><p>“Oh, you guys go ahead and get lunch, I’ll meet you down there,” Skyla said. Hermione and Neville reluctantly departed the classroom, closing the door behind them as they left, though Skyla chuckled slightly as she noticed the shadow of Hermione’s hair underneath the door, indicating that they were still planning on waiting for her. It was a surprisingly comforting thought.</p><p>“How are you settling in?” Lupin asked, “made some friends already I see.”</p><p>“Oh. Yeah it’s been okay, Hermione and Neville are great. Just been… trying to learn my way around and everything.” </p><p>Of all the things that Skyla had been expecting Professor Lupin to talk about, ‘idle chatter’ hadn’t been particularly high on the list.</p><p>“That’s good, that’s good.”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“So… was there anything else, sir?” Skyla asked slowly.</p><p>Lupin appeared as though he were waiting for something, however when Skyla simply stood there looking confused, he merely sighed softly in apparent disappointment.</p><p>“No, no nothing… you can go…”</p><p>“Uh… okay…”</p><p>Thoroughly confused, Skyla slowly made her way towards the door and slipped out into the corridor.</p><p>“What was that about?” Hermione asked curiously.</p><p>“I have absolutely no idea.”</p><p>Skyla was utterly baffled at the strange exchange and simply shook her head, until she noticed Professor McGonagall approaching the classroom.</p><p>“What are you three doing out here?” McGonagall asked suspiciously, “you’ll miss out on lunch.”</p><p>“We were just on our way Professor,” Hermione said quickly.</p><p>“Hm. Is Remus still in there?” McGonagall asked.</p><p>“Who?” Hermione said, confused.</p><p>“Professor Lupin.”</p><p>“Oh, yes he is still inside.”</p><p>McGonagall headed into the classroom to speak with Professor Lupin, while Hermione and Neville began to head down the corridor in the direction of the stairs, chatting quietly as they went, until they eventually realised that Skyla was not with them. They turned around to find that Skyla was still standing outside of the DADA classroom with a shocked expression on her face.</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“I’m not going mad, am I?” Skyla asked quietly, “she… she did say ‘Remus’, didn’t she?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Hermione frowned, “unusual name… but, what about that is so important?”</p><p>Skyla turned to look at the classroom door and Hermione was alarmed to see an extremely intense look on Skyla’s face that almost looked like anger.</p><p>“Remus… it can’t be a coincidence,” Skyla said darkly, “it can’t be.”</p><p>“What is going on Skyla, tell us,” Hermione said with worry.</p><p>Skyla looked back to Hermione with her emerald green eyes blazing full of righteous fury.</p><p>“I know that there are five names involved with my parents’ deaths,” Skyla said, “I’ve thought about it a lot ever since I read - well, since recently. I just don’t know how they all fit together.”</p><p>“What names?” Neville asked curiously.</p><p>“Voldemort; their killer,” Skyla began to list, “Dumbledore; the wildcard, and the three unknowns; Sirius… Peter… and, Remus.”</p><p>“Who are they?”</p><p>“That,” Skyla said slowly as she turned back to the classroom door with a steely expression, “is precisely what I’m about to find out.”</p><p>***************</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Shattered Illusions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skyla stepped briskly back into the classroom after insisting that Hermione and Neville go on to lunch without her, and found that Professor Lupin and Professor McGonagall were both sitting by his desk, speaking quietly to each other with their elbows resting on the rather cheap wooden table. Despite the emotional roller-coaster that was racing around her heart and mind, she still knew better than to interrupt her own Head of House in the middle of a staff conversation, so she (im)patiently waited by the door for the two to finish.</p><p>“Oh, Skyla?” Lupin asked curiously after eventually noticing her waiting, “was there something you needed?” </p><p>McGonagall looked around in surprise to find Skyla standing there, with a strange expression that was both nervous and determined at the same time.</p><p>“Excuse me Professor McGonagall,” Skyla said quietly, “I don’t mean to interrupt but I was hoping to speak with Professor Lupin about some… unfinished business.”</p><p>“Indeed?” McGonagall raised an eyebrow in her direction, “well I am almost finished with your Defense teacher, as it were.”</p><p>“Right. I’ll get that over to you right away,” Lupin nodded in her direction, “my apologies for the misunderstanding.”</p><p>“Don’t let it happen again, Remus,” McGonagall said with a disapproving look, “it doesn’t set a particularly good example to the students when even a staff member submits his paperwork late.”</p><p>Lupin bowed his head politely as McGonagall rose to her feet and departed, giving Skyla a brief, appraising look as she passed by. With an audible sigh, Lupin indicated towards the chair across from his desk, which was now vacant and Skyla slowly sat down, peering at the visibly exhausted man.</p><p>“What was that about? Sir?” Skyla asked, her curiosity getting the better of her for a moment.</p><p>Lupin laughed, “almost fifteen years passes, and it’s still like I’m a naughty schoolboy who didn’t hand in his homework. I still have some documents that need filing about my employment and my-well, my health condition.”</p><p>He looked at her with tired, sunken eyes, and Skyla felt a little of her sense of anger and determination fading. He just seemed so worn down and fatigued that she found she didn’t really have the heart to begin aggressively demanding answers from him, despite her intense desire for the knowledge.</p><p>“Are you okay, sir?” Skyla asked, “you look a bit unwell.”</p><p>“I’ve seen better days,” Lupin admitted, “I am notoriously poor of health. Do not be surprised if I miss some classes during the year.”</p><p>“Are you sick?”</p><p>“In a manner of speaking,” Lupin said with a weary smile, “I always wanted to teach and I’m glad to have the opportunity, but it really does take its toll on me. Anyway, enough about that; what brings you back in here?”</p><p>“Well… Professor McGonagall mentioned that you were called Remus.”</p><p>“That is my given name, yes.”</p><p>“Well… if you are who I think you are, then I have some questions for you. About my parents.”</p><p>Lupin faltered slightly and looked at Skyla with a sad expression.</p><p>“I had wondered when you would ask me about that,” he admitted, “that’s why I wanted to speak with you earlier. I thought you may have taken the opportunity then.”</p><p>“I didn’t know who you were then,” Skyla said quietly, “but… when I found out you were this ‘Remus’… well it’s not a very common name, is it?”</p><p>“No… it’s not,” Lupin agreed, “can I assume that you have heard of me from Professor Dumbledore, then? I know he was looking after you in your parents stead. Did he tell you anything about me?”</p><p>Once again, Skyla shook her head.</p><p>“No. I heard of you from a letter that my parents left in a highly protected vault for me, where they mentioned you by name, along with a few others they seemed to think of as friends.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“As a matter of fact, despite what everyone seems to think, I’ve never actually spoken with Dumbledore in my whole life. I grew up in an orphanage in London, not in some mysterious place with Dumbledore, learning magic daily or riding dragons or prancing around with unicorns or whatever else it is that people seemed to think I was doing with my time.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>She may have been calmed down initially by Lupin’s visibly poor health, however her anger began to flare once again as she continued her tirade that was growing in both intensity and volume.</p><p>“Instead of living this apparently glamourous life with Dumbledore, I was instead locked in a cellar by the matron of the orphanage who fed me scraps from the table and made me pee in a drain. I would have starved if not for magic, I’m quite sure of that. I stole food from a muggle bakery for a long time until something went wrong, and I couldn’t go back to the bakery again because the ‘police’ showed up.”</p><p>“... wait-”</p><p>“And now that I’m starting to understand how people normally live, I can see just how awful my life used to be. I had no money, no family, no friends, nothing. Even still, I used to love the simple things; I loved to read and write and learn. But what did I get for that? Bullied. Excluded. Hated. I was the devil, the freak, the cursed child, a waste of oxygen; you name it. My little ball of light that was ‘so’ impressive to everyone else? I figured out how to do that so I could actually see, otherwise I wouldn’t have seen any light for years and just sat in the dark like a vegetable. I can’t even-”</p><p>Tears began to fall down her cheeks and Lupin stared in shock, but she angrily brushed them away and continued while she still had the courage.</p><p>“I can’t even write a simple sentence without making an absolute mess of things, and without Hermione’s help I’d be even more of a laughing stock! I smudge everything I write and my letters are atrocious; it was humiliating to have to be taught how to write them properly again.”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“And after spending years thinking that I was the devil or a demon and that the world would be a better place if I was dead, Hagrid literally knocks down my door and pulls me out of there, gives me my first real clothes, introduces me to the magical world and lets me know that, and get this part; my parents did actually care about me and didn’t just dump me on the side of the road as I believed! Crazy, right?”</p><p>“... Skyla I-”</p><p>“And! In their one final letter to me,” Skyla cut him off, her emotions rampaging throughout her entire body as she physically trembled, “they mention the fact that I can always go to three people for help; Sirius, Remus and Peter. Apparently they trusted these three people with their lives, yet, when they were killed by some raving lunatic, no-one came to find me? No-one wanted me? Not a single person cared? Instead of growing up in this beautiful magical world, I lived in a filthy dark cellar and ate apple cores and disgusting old mashed potato from the floor…?”</p><p>“Skyla-”</p><p>“Why?” Skyla practically begged, with tears in her eyes, “why did no-one want me? Why was no-one there? Was-was I a really horrible child or did-did I do something to someone, or-”</p><p>“Skyla, no!” Lupin exclaimed with a pained expression, his own eyes watering, “it wasn’t like that at all. I loved James and Lily, I would have died for them! I would have died for you!”</p><p>“Then where were you?” Skyla sobbed slightly, “where was anyone? What did I do…?”</p><p>“I-” </p><p>Lupin gulped for a moment, attempting to stifle the dam that threatened to burst as he stared in shock at the overwhelmed girl in front of him who was lightly sobbing with her small hands pressed against her lips in two balled fists. He was having difficult processing her words at all.</p><p>“-I trusted Dumbledore to look after you more than I trusted myself. You have to understand; I am not capable of looking after a child. I have… a problem. A condition. You’ve seen my state, I can barely keep myself functional let alone look after a small girl. There was no way that I could have looked after anyone and… and I thought Dumbledore-”</p><p>“You didn’t even want to see me?” Skyla asked tearfully, “not even once? I never had any family come to visit, ever… Sarah was the closest thing I ever had to… well… anything...”</p><p>“Of course I did,” Lupin said softly, “but Dumbledore said it was better to-”</p><p>“I don’t want to hear anymore about Dumbledore,” Skyla said with a sudden burst of anger, “every time I talk about what happened, his name always comes up. Dumbledore said this, Dumbledore thought that. Do people in the magical world not think for themselves? Why is Dumbledore’s word the only thing that matters around here? Who is he anyway? I don’t know him, not really. Does anyone? People talk about him like he’s this mysterious god of magic-”</p><p>Lupin fell silent at her words, rather alarmed at the surprisingly rapid emotional shift that Skyla was experiencing.</p><p>“-and anyway, what about this ‘Sirius’? Or ‘Peter’? who are they? Why didn’t they come either?”</p><p>“You don’t know?” Lupin asked in surprise.</p><p>“Should I?” Skyla replied defensively.</p><p>“Out of anyone, you should,” Lupin shook his head, “everyone knows about Sirius.”</p><p>“Well I’m sorry, I was a bit out of the loop while I fought with mice over the scraps of the other children.”</p><p>Skyla knew that she was being rather rude to what was still her Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, however her emotions had suddenly spiraled out of control, surprising even herself with how rapidly they were changing. Thankfully Lupin didn’t seem to be considering any kind of punishment for Skyla. Instead, he simply stared at her with sad eyes until the condescending pity became too unbearable for her to look at.</p><p>“So what about them?” Skyla said with a sniff as she looked away, “what makes them so special?”</p><p>“We were all friends at school,” Lupin began with a soft sigh, “me, James, Sirius and Peter. Lily as-well, in our later years. We were inseparable, and quite arrogant now that I look back on things. James was the ringleader no doubt, and Sirius was his right-hand man and best friend. They had a bond like no others ever would.”</p><p>“So why didn’t Sirius or Peter come find me then? Because of ‘Dumbledore’?” she asked with an exaggerated emphasis on Dumbledore’s name. She knew it was childish, but, she was too upset to care.</p><p>“No… not exactly,” Lupin said slowly, “I’m sure that you know already, but back when Voldemort was at the peak of his power, your parents and Dumbledore were the only things that stood in the way of his total and absolute victory.”</p><p>“I’ve heard as much, yes,” Skyla commented.</p><p>“But do you know how they fell in the end?” Lupin asked. Skyla shook her head.</p><p>“It was by betrayal,” Lupin said sadly, “one of us betrayed them and sent them to their deaths.”</p><p>Skyla’s eyes widened as shock quickly overtook her anger.</p><p>“Someone betrayed them? Who?”</p><p>“Peter Pettigrew,” Lupin said with a bitter tone, “or Wormtail, as we called him. We should have seen it coming in hindsight; we considered him to be a close friend yet we constantly made fun of him and sometimes excluded him from our inside jokes. It all seemed like harmless banter at the time, but Peter always had to bear the brunt of it and it’s clear now that his grudges carried through to our adult lives. Well… that and he was always easily intimidated; his fear of Voldemort was overwhelming. Why he was put into Gryffindor remains a mystery to me, honestly.”</p><p>“How did he betray them?”</p><p>“Your parents were protected from Voldemort by a powerful magic called the Fidelius charm; a complicated and highly advanced concealment charm that works by binding the secret of a location to a person. Only that person, who becomes the ‘secret keeper’, can divulge the information, even if other people already know it. It could be your own home, yet if the secret keeper has not told you the location, you will never find it again. It is extraordinarily powerful magic, though as far as I’m aware, Dumbledore is the only one who could cast such magic.”</p><p>“So then, how did Peter betray them exactly? Was he this secret keeper?”</p><p>“Sirius was their secret keeper at first,” Lupin explained, “it was a closely guarded secret and even I only knew because I visited your parents sometimes. As Voldemort’s influence spread however and we began to lose more and more important locations like the Ministry and Diagon Alley, Sirius grew afraid that he would be captured soon and the information forcefully extracted from him; since as James’ best friend he was an obvious target. Instead, they decided to switch to Peter as the secret keeper, as he would have been the last person that anyone would have expected to hold such valuable information. It was a clever misdirection, that might have worked in any other circumstances.”</p><p>“But it didn’t.”</p><p>“No… Peter took the information straight to Voldemort and within a day, your parents were dead,” Lupin said sadly.</p><p>“So the ‘Peter’ my mother spoke of is just a traitor… what about Sirius?”</p><p>“Sirius Black… well, he’s a difficult one. Sirius knew immediately what had happened and he had a tendency to be… hot headed. He sought out Peter immediately after your parents’ death and found Peter quite quickly within muggle London.”</p><p>“Peter didn’t run? Or hide? Was he an idiot as-well as a traitor?”</p><p>“Sirius is a hard person to escape,” Lupin smiled slightly, “he’s a very good… tracker.”</p><p>“So what happened when Sirius found him?” </p><p>“Well that’s the big question now, isn’t it?” Lupin mused, “no-one knows exactly. All that we know is that there were eye witness accounts of Sirius cornering Peter in the street, and the next thing you know half the street has been destroyed and Peter had been blown to pieces, along with over a dozen muggles. It was such a violent incident that aurors were instantly dispatched to put down what was being treated as ‘magical terrorism’. They arrived and a skirmish broke out, but Sirius fought them off and ran, shouting something about a promise that he made. He’s been on the run ever since for mass murder. They held a funeral for Peter, but it was a token affair since all they found of him was one little finger. Not many people know he was a traitor; Dumbledore thought it best that he not tarnish the Potters memory with such a dark and unfitting end. Many think he was a hero, who died fighting the traitorous Sirius.”</p><p>Skyla frowned as she thought about it.</p><p>“That doesn’t make sense,” she said slowly, “why would Sirius rush off to hunt Peter specifically, catch him, corner him, then… blow everything up? Why wouldn’t he just… kill him?”</p><p>“Sirius was always… rather theatrical,” Lupin said with a dry scoff, “it doesn’t surprise me, honestly. Perhaps he was hoping to take himself out at the same time. After losing James, I can’t imagine that Sirius had much to live for.”</p><p>“But you said he was saying something about a promise,” Skyla pointed out, “and that he fought the aurors off to escape. That doesn’t sound like a man who wanted to die.”</p><p>“No… no you’re right, it doesn’t.”</p><p>“And what’s this rubbish about people thinking Peter was a hero?” Skyla said in annoyance, “do people really think that the one who betrayed my parents, and in turn betrayed me, is a damn hero?”</p><p>“He got awarded the Order of Merlin posthumously.”</p><p>“He got an AWARD!?” Skyla said in outrage, even though she didn’t recognise the award, “for betraying my parents!?”</p><p>“Well, it kind of sounded like he was standing up to Sirius who was the traitor, at least that’s how it got conveyed in the courts. He’s dead anyway, Skyla,” Lupin said gently, “and so are they. It’s not like it really matters now.”</p><p>Skyla gaped at Lupin, how could the man not be deeply and personally offended at the thought of her parents betrayer being awarded some medal as if he were a courageous hero to the world?</p><p>“It was a long time ago,” Lupin said with a sniff, “I think it best that we leave their memory in peace.”</p><p>“You don’t get to decide that,” Skyla huffed, “so where would Sirius have gone, then?”</p><p>“I have no idea, but I suspect he fled the country,” Lupin said, “and is hiding out in America or Europe somewhere. He can’t return here due to his crimes, and there’s nothing here for him anyway.”</p><p>“Hm. I don’t know. It sounds like Sirius was avenging my parents and trying to bring a traitor to justice. Sounds like Peter got what he deserved.”</p><p>“He killed thirteen other people in the explosion,” Lupin reminded her, “no amount of vengeance justifies mass murder.”</p><p>“... if he was the kind of person to do that,” Skyla asked suspiciously, “then why didn’t he join Voldemort in the first place? Or betray my parents himself? Unless he just hated muggles or something…?”</p><p>“No,” Lupin laughed, “for his many failings, Sirius actually loved muggles. He found their ways of living without magic to be fascinating and entertaining. He grew up in the very strict, and rather bigoted, House of Black, so when he rebelled and ran away from home during our youth to live with your father, he embraced everything and anything that his family had hated, in order to spite them. Including muggle habits.”</p><p>Skyla thought deeply for a moment before she came to a conclusion.</p><p>“This all comes back to Dumbledore, doesn’t it?” Skyla asked flatly, “everyone I’ve spoken to always mentions him but it sounds to me like he didn’t do a whole lot. Isn’t he meant to be the greatest wizard of all time? Yet somehow Voldemort took over half the country or something and the man did nothing about it? My parents seemed to do more than he did by the stories… he cast the spell that was supposed to protect my parents and it failed. He was supposed to look after me after they died but somehow I ended up at an orphanage and he didn’t check on me, ever. He did nothing about Sirius; either to punish him or help him. Tell me, what exactly is this man’s contribution to the world that makes him so great? Because I’m not seeing it.”</p><p>“Dumbledore is a great man,” Lupin said with a shake of his head, “he is highly intelligent and can perform magic that-”</p><p>“So his contribution is being powerful and smart?” Skyla asked skeptically, “this makes him different from Voldemort… how, exactly?”</p><p>Lupin shook his head with a pitying look.</p><p>“You’re too young to understand,” he said softly. “he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Every decision he made had far reaching consequences.”</p><p>“Right,” Skyla scoffed, “because Dumbledore was the one who had to live in a cellar. Dumbledore was the one who had to eat the scraps off the floor. Dumbledore was the one who… anyway, what exactly HAS Dumbledore done in the past ten years? Seems like he’s been living comfortably, thanks to my parents’ sacrifice.”</p><p>“It was you who killed Voldemort,” Lupin corrected, “not your parents. Back when you were a-”</p><p>Skyla shook her head, “no. I know what really happened, it was in their letter, and I had nothing to do with it. Not really.”</p><p>Lupin peered at her with hesitant curiosity.</p><p>“They made some kind of… trap for Voldemort in my hand. A rune or something made with their blood. It was made to be much more powerful if they were dead, which I am guessing is why it killed him.”</p><p>Skyla opened her hand and indicated to the star-shaped scar on the inside of her palm. The scar that was famous all around the world because of Hagrid, although Skyla didn’t really begrudge him for that slip up. She knew he was excitable and liked a drink, and besides, he had more than made up for his failures of the past by rescuing her from her cellar in the first place.</p><p>“Blood and runic magic?” Lupin asked with shock at her words as he considered the implications, “I never thought they would resort to such methods of magic… you already know that blood magic is very dark and dangerous, runes almost equally so…”</p><p>“Well, dark magic comes at a price,” Skyla said with a shrug, “I guess they were willing to pay it to protect their daughter. I’ve heard they were brave like that.”</p><p>“I… yeah I guess they were. I just hope-”</p><p>He paused as he looked at Skyla hesitantly.</p><p>“-I just hope that wasn’t what caused them to lose their lives in the first place.”</p><p>“Voldemort caused them to lose their lives,” Skyla said firmly, “and Peter. Maybe even Dumbledore… I don’t know. I don’t trust him.”</p><p>“You’re more angry at Dumbledore than at Sirius?” Lupin asked skeptically, “the mass murderer?”</p><p>“It sounds like Sirius attempted to avenge my parents and that he was mad with grief at their loss,” Skyla said with a shrug, “he already sounds a lot more loyal than Dumbledore.”</p><p>“And if he killed THIRTEEN people?” Lupin pointed out once again.</p><p>“You said it yourself, no-one knows what actually happened,” Skyla said thoughtfully, “maybe…”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“... maybe I need to talk to him. Maybe I need to find him. Get the truth of all this.”</p><p>“You must be joking. Skyla, he’s a killer.”</p><p>“So?”</p><p>Lupin laughed.</p><p>“So? So you don’t have a problem with that?”</p><p>Skyla thought seriously about his words before replying.</p><p>“It sounds like he cared deeply about my parents,” she said thoughtfully, “he wouldn’t go charging off recklessly to murder a former friend in front of everyone otherwise. He didn’t seem ashamed of his actions. That says to me there’s more to this. I think it’s worth hearing his side of the story. He hasn’t even been to court, right? So he’s not even technically guilty of anything yet.”</p><p>“When did kids start being so insightful,” Lupin scoffed, “I know kids in trauma experience enhanced magical development, but-”</p><p>“I just have a working brain,” Skyla pointed out, “and you know, thanks to Voldemort, Peter and Dumbledore, I had a lot of time to use it while I was sitting there doing… nothing.”</p><p>“Look, you don’t know Sirius.”</p><p>“I don’t, you’re right.”</p><p>Lupin sighed, relaxing slightly.</p><p>“... but you do,” Skyla continued with growing determination, “tell me, what does he look like? How could I track him down? Where might he go? Where did he frequent?”</p><p>“Like I said, he’s probably not even in the country anyway,” Lupin said defensively.</p><p>“Which country would he go to, then?” Skyla pressed further.</p><p>“You really want to speak to him that badly?” Lupin asked in surprise, “you would be willing to go to another country just to speak to him?”</p><p>“I would be willing to go to another planet for my family,” Skyla said quietly, “and if he was my father’s best friend, then... doesn’t he deserve a chance to defend himself?”</p><p>Lupin looked at her sadly, before sighing softly.</p><p>“I… I do find it a bit hard to believe that Sirius would do all of that,” he admitted, “I mean, I could see him killing Peter in blind rage but… a entire street of muggles? But then, he had just lost James and Lily… so… I don’t know…”</p><p>He continued to stare into the beautiful emerald green eyes of the girl who looked as though she could have been Lily herself, were in not for James’ almost iconic wild, black hair that was held back in a loose ponytail behind her head. Despite her tear-stained face and runny nose, she still managed to look oddly regal with her clearly expensive, tailored school robes, even if they were slightly ruffled and skewed, which caused Lupin to chuckle slightly in spite of the situation. She looked every part her mother from her facial features, yet she looked every part her father from her rugged and care-free image, complete with messy black hair and a button undone here and there that she had obviously missed when dressing herself.</p><p>It was hard to tell who would have been prouder of their daughter; James for her roguish looks or Lily for her outstanding intelligence. The thought that they would never know how amazing their daughter was, utterly broke his heart in two.</p><p>“Look…” Lupin finally said, sounding defeated, “there’s a reason that no-one could ever find Sirius. He has an… ability that not many have.”</p><p>“Which is?”</p><p>“He’s an animagus,” Lupin admitted in barely more than a whisper, “he can change into the shape of a large dog. I bet you anything that’s why no-one has found him, because no-one else knows he can do that.”</p><p>“Really?” Skyla asked curiously, “what does it look like?”</p><p>“Well if he still looks the same, he’s about waist height with matted, usually filthy, black fur that is long and shaggy, with long legs and a thick tail. His eyes are completely black and people often think he looks like the ‘grim’, or a demon-wolf. He looks terrifying from the outside, but he’s always quite happy in his animal form and very playful.”</p><p>Skyla’s eyes widened at the description.</p><p>“And he would be very intelligent in his dog form, right? Maybe even able to hold a basic conversation with someone?” she asked excitedly.</p><p>“Of course,” Lupin shrugged, “he’s still himself inside that dog form, even if he can’t speak in words. His mind is still his own.”</p><p>Skyla ogled Lupin for a moment until surprisingly, she began to laugh wildly, startling him.</p><p>“I can’t believe it… no... no, you know what? I CAN believe it,” Skyla exclaimed as she laughed, “as if it wasn’t fate… as if it wasn’t magic… probably even to do with Dumbledore since everything else is…”</p><p>Lupin gave her a questioning look, however she continued to laugh to herself and mutter quietly until, all of a sudden, she looked up at him directly.</p><p>“I know where he is,” Skyla said firmly, “or at least… I know where he was. It’s been a long time, but-”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“He’s not in another country,” Skyla shook her head, “and it makes sense that he would still be here. If he was going to leave the country, he would have left already. Why hang around in a place where you are wanted? You would only if stay if you had somewhere to be or… or something to do… but of course; this ‘promise’ of his… he must have stayed to see it through, whatever it was…”</p><p>“What are you talking about, Skyla?” Lupin asked with growing concern.</p><p>“I’ve met him,” Skyla said quietly with a wild expression of almost insane joy, “I’ve met him! I spoke to him! I knew that dog was unusual but-</p><p>“You spoke with him?” Lupin asked in shock.</p><p>“Well, I spoke with a dog that matches the description perfectly,” Skyla explained, “but the dog was smart. Far too smart for a normal dog. How many dogs have you spoken with that understood you and spoke back?”</p><p>She suddenly laughed wildly again, causing Lupin to stare at her as if she had gone mad.</p><p>“We were both there to steal food from the bakery!” she laughed loudly, sounding a little unhinged, “you can’t tell me that he isn’t family! Who else would bump into each other while raiding a muggle bakery for survival? I even fed him. I fed my father’s best friend stolen bread!”</p><p>Lupin continued to stare at her with concern as she laughed. Or cried; he couldn’t quite tell.</p><p>“Oh…” Skyla sighed as she wiped a tear from her eye, “I have to go back. I have to find him.”</p><p>“If what you said is true,” Lupin considered, “maybe we should consider telling the ministry? They could find him easily.”</p><p>“So he can be locked up?” Skyla asked incredulously.</p><p>“So he can stand trial,” Lupin corrected, “as people should in a fair and just system. If he’s innocent, then it will be proven before the Wizengamot.”</p><p>“If you really believed that, you would have told them about his animagus ability,” Sklya pointed out astutely, “but you didn’t.”</p><p>Lupin faltered.</p><p>“You’re right, I didn’t…” he said quietly, “look, I don’t want the things they say about him to be true, and I know that you want to believe that Sirius is family and he certainly was to your parents, but what if he really is the horrible person that they say he is?”</p><p>“Weren’t you friends with him?” Skyla asked.</p><p>“Well, yes.”</p><p>“Then who else would know him better than you?” Skyla asked incredulously, “do you think he is guilty of the things they say?”</p><p>Lupin paused, hesitantly, for a long time.</p><p>“You just don’t want to deal with it, do you?” Skyla said shrewdly, “if Sirius is innocent in all of this, then it means that you left a friend of yours out to dry while you got on with living your life, right? You did nothing to help keep my parents alive, you did nothing for me, and you did nothing for Sirius. You’re no better than Dumbledore.”</p><p>Her words stung him right to his core, however he didn’t respond in anger as Skyla was half-afraid he might, thinking maybe she had gone too far. Instead, to Skyla’s surprise, he slumped down with his face falling into his hands and he began to cry, which was a strange sight to Skyla and actually made her feel rather uncomfortable, despite having just cried her eyes out herself.</p><p>“I was always the outsider,” Lupin admitted through his sniffles, “James and Sirius were closer than anyone, almost closer than James and Lily were. Peter was always the target of their jokes, but, at least he was involved. I was just kind of… there.”</p><p>“So you think that’s a good enough reason to give up on Sirius?” Skyla asked, confused, “you think that… you think that justifies… anything? At all?”</p><p>She considered him for a moment.</p><p>“Do-do you want to know what my mother thought of you?”</p><p>With shaky hands, Skyla reached into her robes and withdrew the letter that she kept in an enchanted pocket on the inside of her robes, specially made for her by the assistant Twillfitt and Tattings. She wouldn’t dare leave it anywhere else while she was at Hogwarts; she kept her parents’ letter in the safe pocket right above her heart. Her little secret; a small piece, the last piece, of her parents that she kept with her at all times. For comfort. For solace.</p><p>“I-I know that Sirius, Remus and Peter will look after you,” Skyla read aloud in a small voice, “so if you have any questions you can always ask them. We trust them to guide you in our stead, to instill the values of truth, honesty and integrity within you.”</p><p>Lupin’s heart somehow managed to break even further at her words, although bizarrely, Skyla began to laugh instead.</p><p>“My… dad, he also said,” Skyla laughed softly, “that he’ll haunt you for a thousand years if you don’t.”</p><p>Lupin paused for a moment before breaking out into his own awkward combination of tears and laughter.</p><p>“That’s definitely something your father would say.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t really know.”</p><p>Lupin stared at Skyla for a moment.</p><p>I’ve been a coward,” he admitted in a choked voice, “and a terrible friend.”</p><p>Skyla looked at the broken and defeated man, before sighing softly and letting her anger fade from her body. Reading her mother’s words again had made her realise that for better or worse, this man had been very important to her parents once; if she really wanted to honour them she wouldn’t kick him while he was down.</p><p>“It’s not too late,” Skyla pointed out, “they might not be alive but, well… I am. And Sirius is. I hope, at least.”</p><p>“You’re right,” he said, slowly nodding as if a bright light was suddenly dawning in his mind, “you are alive. James and Lily’s daughter is standing in front of me, and here I am sobbing like a complete mess.”</p><p>He shook his head and sniffed, wiping his eyes and nose on his arm as he suddenly got to his feet, with more vibrant vitality displayed on his face than Skyla had seen thus far. It was as though he had just suddenly awoken from a long and deep sleep.</p><p>“Let’s do it,” Lupin said firmly, surprising Skyla, “let’s find him. Find him, and get the truth.”</p><p>“Sirius?” Skyla asked with growing excitement, “yes! Let’s do it!”</p><p>“It will have to wait until the semester break though,” Lupin said and held up a hand to stop Skyla’s immediate complaint, “I know, you want to go right now, I know, I do too, but we have to be smart about this. We can’t just up and leave school and besides, I’ll need time to prepare as well. Come up with a plan. Do some research, go over the old news articles again…”</p><p>“I guess that makes sense,” Skyla said reluctantly, “I should probably learn more about his situation myself.”</p><p>“We can talk about this in more detail later,” Lupin said with a sigh, “it’s been ten years; if he’s still in London, then I doubt he’s going anywhere anytime soon.”</p><p>Lupin smiled at her, though he had a sad tone to his voice as he said;</p><p>“You know, for what it’s worth… I’m sorry.”</p><p>“I…” Skyla began, but eventually sighed gently, “I can’t hate you. Part of me wants to, but… I know that you were important to my parents and that makes you important to me.”</p><p>Lupin smiled warmly and began to speak, however Skyla cut him off.</p><p>“But! I want to know what it was that my parents saw in you,” she said pointedly, “I want to know what made you a good friend to them and why they trusted you so much.”</p><p>“That’s more than fair,” Lupin nodded, “I’ll show you. Both as your teacher and, hopefully, as a friend.”</p><p>“We’ll see,” Skyla said quietly, suddenly feeling rather exhausted.</p><p>“I should go,” she realised, “we’ve been in here for ages.”</p><p>“Oh sh-yeah, yeah we have,” Lupin ran his hands through his hair in stress, “I need to get those documents to McGonagall!”</p><p>“She calls you Remus,” Skyla queried, “but you don’t call her by her first name?”</p><p>Lupin laughed, “I… I can’t. It’s too weird, she taught me for seven years too, you know, and we were… rowdy students.”</p><p>Skyla chuckled slightly at the notion, admitting that it would be a strange situation to be in.</p><p>“You can call me Remus though if you would like to,” he said hesitantly, “you know. In an unofficial capacity.”</p><p>“Would you like me to?” Skyla asked curiously.</p><p>“I would, yeah.”</p><p>“Well… alright then. Remus,” Skyla said, causing him to smile fondly.</p><p>“Thank you, Skyla. I better get to it. I’ll see you next week,” Remus said warmly. He watched Skyla get to her feet and begin to walk away, until she reached the door.</p><p>“Oh, and Skyla?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“You’re very lucky to have friends like those, you know.”</p><p>Remus indicated to the door, underneath which the shadow of some very bushy hair outside the door was clearly visible on the ground. At the comment, the hair suddenly retreated, causing both Remus and Skyla to laugh.</p><p>“I just wanted to make sure you were okay in there!” a muffled voice yelled from the other side.</p><p>Skyla chuckled while jogging over to the door and swung it open, surprising Hermione by suddenly throwing herself at the girl and dragging her into a tight hug.</p><p>“I’m okay,” Skyla said fondly as Hermione patted her hesitantly on the back in return, “you know what? I’ve never been better. Shall we go to lunch?”</p><p>“Lunch ended ages ago,” Neville pointed out, “what we should be doing it rushing to Charms class and throwing ourselves on the floor to apologise for being so late.”</p><p>“Oh right! Here,” Remus spent a few moments hastily scribbling a note on his desk, before walking over and handing it to Skyla, “this should get you out of trouble.”</p><p>Skyla looked down at the note and read it.</p><p>“Dear Filius,</p><p>My sincerest apologies for keeping Skyla and her friends back late. Entirely my fault I’m afraid, I got to talking with her about James and Lily, and well, emotions got the better of us both.</p><p>Her friends thoughtfully decided to hang around to make sure she was safe. Extremely caring and loyal friends. I certainly wouldn’t recommend that you award them for something on my behalf within your own class. That would be highly unprofessional of me.</p><p>Oh and Skyla, don’t let your friends see this note.</p><p>Remus Lupin.”</p><p>***************</p><p>“Is that a new quill?” Flitwick asked curiously.</p><p>“Oh, yes my old on-”</p><p>“Ten points to Gryffindor for Mr Longbottom’s dedication to his studies!”</p><p>“Huh?” Neville let out in surprise.</p><p>Hermione laughed, “well it is quite a nice quill. Well done Neville.”</p><p>“Ten points to Gryffindor for Miss Granger’s outstanding moral fiber!”</p><p>“Huh?” Hermione let out in surprise.</p><p>“Well it is quite nice moral fiber,” Neville commented with amusement.</p><p>Flitwick caught Skyla’s eye and gave the tiniest of winks, causing the girl to burst out in poorly concealed giggles while the rest of the class simply scratched their heads in confusion at just what on earth was going on.</p><p>For the rest of the day, Skyla had a rather large smile on her face and for the first time in her life, she felt a strange feeling in her chest that she would later come to realise was the bizarre sensation often known as ‘hope’. </p><p>She wasn’t particularly familiar with it so far, but it was definitely starting to grow on her.</p><p>***************</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. A Goblin Never Forgets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The following few days at Hogwarts were rather quiet and uneventful as the students began to settle into their newly forming habits and routines. Some of their classes, such as Charms and Transfiguration, had multiple classes throughout the week that they had to attend while others, such as Herbology and Potions, were limited to one or two. Hermione had been the one who had quickly identified that this didn’t necessarily mean they had a smaller workload for those subjects, however. In fact, after looking over their potions textbook and the structure of the content, it was quite clear that having less time in the classroom would only make those subjects harder, and required ‘more’ self-directed study on their part.</p>
<p>With this knowledge in mind, Skyla, Neville and Hermione were quietly preparing in the common room for their upcoming Potions class the following morning, while the rest of the first year Gryffindor students relaxed around the fire, idly chatting and playing games together.</p>
<p>“You guys really don’t quit, huh?” Lavender called out to the trio, “it’s Friday tomorrow. It’s one class, and then we have all weekend. You should lighten up a little. Do something fun.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to fall behind,” Hermione replied, “there’s actually so much content that we have to fit into each week. I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but later on when-”</p>
<p>“Fall behind?” Parvati laughed, “you guys are so far ahead of everyone else. You aren’t gonna fall behind, even if you stopped studying altogether.”</p>
<p>“That’s not true,” Hermione said, “even if we are ahead now, once you fall behind, it becomes very difficult to catch up again. For any of us. Especially when it comes to exam time; you don’t want to be scrambling to study then.”</p>
<p>“Exams? It’s our first week,” Lavender chuckled, “we have months until our exams.”</p>
<p>Hermione shrugged, “they’ll be on us before you know it. What if we get asked questions about this week’s content? Will you remember any of it? I’d rather make sure that I’m prepared early.”</p>
<p>“Well, you can do what you like,” Ron said unconcernedly, while getting Lavender and Parvati’s attention, “but for the rest of us… who’s up for a game of chess?”</p>
<p>He indicated to the chess set that was sitting beside him.</p>
<p>“I don’t know how to play,” Lavender said.</p>
<p>“I haven’t the faintest clue,” Parvati agreed.</p>
<p>“I can teach you,” Ron offered, “it’s real easy. Come, sit with me-”</p>
<p>The rest of the first year Gryffindors who had nothing else to do (aside from actually study), gathered around to watch the amusing sight of Lavender and Parvati attempting to learn chess. Skyla watched on with mixed emotions; she wasn’t exactly ‘jealous’ since she had no interest in chess (or in playing with Ron either, if she was being honest), however she did feel a certain sense of regret at having not been included in the overall group. She completely agreed with what Hermione had said, and it did make sense, yet part of her privately wished that Hermione had agreed to go over and play with them, so they could all go. Skyla wasn’t going to leave Hermione out on her own of course, but she was a little wistful as she watched the much larger group of students chatting and having a fun time together while the three of them quietly studied potions in the corner. It was too late now at any rate, so with a quiet sigh, she looked back down to her book and resumed her work.</p>
<p>The following morning arrived and despite having enjoyed her first week (for the most part), Skyla was admittedly looking forward to taking a break from their classes over the weekend. They just had the one extended class to get through and then they were free until Monday (well, as ‘free’ as they would be on Hermione’s rather intense schedule). Regrettably it was to be three hours spent down in the dungeons with Slytherin and their Head of House, but, at least it was just the one class. Skyla was a little worried about whether she would have any incidents with the Slytherin students since she hadn’t interacted with them since their D.A.D.A. lesson where she had zoned out for awhile at Draco’s insult, but she tried to push it from her mind as best as she could. While they may have had some failings, to their credit the rest of the Gryffindors had forgotten about it almost immediately, although that was likely only due to a juicier piece of gossip appearing in the news circle among the students. Skyla could little more than hope that the rest of the school were as easily distracted as the Gryffindors had been.</p>
<p>“I must admit, I am curious what potions is going to be like,” Hermione mused as they made their way down to the dungeons below the castle, “I know that it’s taught by Professor Snape but I don’t know much about him. Only that he’s Slytherin’s Head of House.”</p>
<p>“I know he has a Mastery in potions,” Neville commented, “which is exceedingly rare. There are only a handful of ‘Masters’ left in any discipline around the world, and Hogwarts holds three of them. It’s quite the point of pride among magical Britain; my Gran kept bringing it up before I left for Hogwarts.”</p>
<p>“What is a Mastery?” Skyla asked.</p>
<p>“Someone who has been certified by the International Confederation of Wizards as an expert and leader in their field,” Neville explained.</p>
<p>“Confederation of Wizards? Are witches not allowed in or something?” Skyla asked with a hesitant laugh.</p>
<p>“Uh… no, it’s just called that ‘cause… well, I don’t really know why. Traditional, I suppose. I’m pretty sure there are witches who represent some other countries. Dumbledore represents us, of course. I don’t know much more about it than that though.”</p>
<p>“Who are the other two ‘Masters’ that Hogwarts has?” Hermione asked curiously, “I guess one must be Professor Dumbledore.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Professor Dumbledore for Alchemy and Professor McGonagall for Transfiguration. Even to people like my grandmother, they are household names. There’s not that many magical schools left around the world so any ‘Masters’ are highly contested.”</p>
<p>“I would love to study Alchemy under Professor Dumbledore,” Hermione sighed rather dreamily, “can you imagine how fascinating that would be? The things you could learn…”</p>
<p>Skyla frowned at the mention of Dumbledore’s name, but she had no desire to ruin Hermione’s dreamy moment so she said nothing further on the topic as they found their way into the potions laboratory and occupied a bench at the front of the class. </p>
<p>“This is certainly a… mood,” Neville commented with amusement.</p>
<p>“Not the most productive workspace,” Hermione agreed with a slightly wrinkled nose.</p>
<p>It was quite a dark and depressing room that their class was to be held in; there was no natural light since they were below sea level in the dungeons and the only sources of light were a handful of burning torches on the walls. Even those torches seemed a little sad and withered as whatever spell kept them burning seemed to be slowly fading and dying out.</p>
<p>“It’s not so bad,” Skyla offered, “it’s pretty large; it’s nice to have all this space to ourselves. I actually kind of like it, honestly. Look at all this equipment we can use.”</p>
<p>Neville and Hermione looked at her like she had gone mad, but Skyla just shrugged in response. She was perhaps the only student who felt comfortable in the environment as the trio noticed even the Slytherins had retreated towards the sides and rear of the room in search of light and air. Most of the students seemed to be contesting the seats by the door, perhaps in eager anticipation of leaving the classroom as soon as it finished. </p>
<p>There was no mistaking the entry of Professor Snape a few minutes later as he pushed the door to the potions laboratory fully open with a loud bang, startling the waiting students.</p>
<p>“There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class,” he announced immediately as he strode down the aisle between the benches with his long black cloak swishing behind him, “I don’t expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those select few…”</p>
<p>Snape paused when he reached the front and turned around to peer at the class for a moment, causing many students to lower their gaze and avoid his penetrating stare as he inspected his new first years.</p>
<p>“... who possess, the predisposition... I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death.”</p>
<p>Skyla stared at the strange (and admittedly rather dramatic) man with interest. In the back of her mind, she knew that it was likely a pre-rehearsed speech performed with flair in order to stimulate some interest in the subject from the students, however it was rather effective and she found herself leaning forward and hanging on every word. She wasn’t particularly interested in fame or glory, but halting death? She was especially interested in that one; she wasn’t afraid to die, yet she couldn’t help but wonder if such skills could have potentially saved her parents from their fate. If she could learn how to prevent death, she could stop someone else from having to grow up like she had-</p>
<p>As if he had heard her thoughts or something, Snape suddenly turned to look at her, startling her with the intensity of his stare.</p>
<p>“Miss Potter,” he eventually said, “our new celebrity.”</p>
<p>Skyla frowned at being singled out, once again, in a classroom. She was starting to get very annoyed at being the forefront of every class; she just wanted to sit and quietly learn. Was that so bad? She didn’t dare say anything to him however and simply said nothing in response, waiting for him to say whatever it was he clearly wanted to say.</p>
<p>He appraised her for a surprisingly long amount of time, before he suddenly asked;</p>
<p>“Tell me, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Skyla furrowed her brow and tried to recall what she had read over the break. She remembered that they were useful for something, what was it…?</p>
<p>“... they are core ingredients in… the Draught of Living Death, aren’t they?” Skyla said hesitantly, “at least, I think they are…”</p>
<p>She glanced over to Hermione and was relieved to see her nodding approvingly. Snape simply continued to peer down at her with a rather unreadable expression.</p>
<p>“And where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”</p>
<p>“Oh, that one is easy,” Skyla said with relief, “in the stomach of a goat. They are a simple cure for all kinds of poisons; it mentions them in our textbook as a good emergency prevention.”</p>
<p>“That it does,” Snape commented in a neutral tone.</p>
<p>“What is the difference then,” he continued, “between monkshood and wolfsbane?”</p>
<p>“Aren’t…” Skyla began, but paused with a frown, “... aren’t they the same thing? Or am I missing something? I thought wolfsbane was just a nickname… it has another name too, I’m pretty sure…”</p>
<p>“Aconite,” both Snape and Hermione commented at the same time.</p>
<p>“Right, that’s the one.”</p>
<p>“So… you’ve done some reading,” he said quietly.</p>
<p>“Yes sir,” she said a little nervously, “I’ve read my textbook twice.”</p>
<p>A few students laughed at the rear, and she distinctly heard Ron snort in amusement.</p>
<p>Snape said nothing however and simply peered down at her, clearly thinking deeply, which only left Skyla feeling more confused.</p>
<p>“Was… was there anything else, sir?” Skyla asked hesitantly, when Snape said nothing further.</p>
<p>“No…” he said slowly, and turned his attention back to the class, giving them an introduction to potions and what they will be learning, leaving a very confused Skyla sitting at her bench and wondering why she had just been so suddenly targeted like that.</p>
<p>“Shame you didn’t get any points for all that,” Hermione whispered while Snape began to write a potion recipe on the chalkboard at the front.</p>
<p>“I don’t know why I was singled out in the first place,” Skyla whispered back, “why is it always me?”</p>
<p>“Gee, I wonder why, Miss ‘Girl-Who-Lived’,” Hermione said with a roll of her eyes.</p>
<p>Potions class had ended up being a surprisingly quiet affair after that; Professor Snape seemed slightly subdued and almost confused from Skyla’s earlier answers while Draco (who Skyla had been worried would make a scene after their D.A.D.A. class) merely sat in the corner with his friends and ignored everyone else. Even Ron seemed to be rather preoccupied with Dean and Seamus as the three seemed to be struggling slightly to get their potions correct.</p>
<p>It had ended up being quite an enjoyable class in the end and she finished with a picture-perfect Cure for Boils potion sitting bottled in front of her, and a satisfied expression on her face. Neville hadn’t faired quite as well as she had, however with a little assistance from his two new friends, he too was able to complete the potion to an acceptable degree (though his was perhaps not quite as vibrantly blue as Skyla’s and Hermione’s potions were).</p>
<p>The class was eventually dismissed, and Skyla made to depart with Hermione and Neville, however Snape suddenly stopped her before she reached the door.</p>
<p>“Potter. You will stay behind.”</p>
<p>Skyla almost rolled her eyes, having had more than enough of her share of private conversations with teachers for one week, however she didn’t dare risk the man’s wrath (if for no other reason than not wishing to lose her hard-earned points thus far). She let out a small sigh and waved Hermione and Neville on, who informed her that they would wait outside. Draco smirked at Skyla on his way past, clearly thinking that Skyla was about to get into trouble and Ron gave her a stern look, as if warning her not to lose any points (as though he were in any position to comment).</p>
<p>“Did I do something wrong, sir?” Skyla asked after the rest of the class had vacated and she was left alone with Snape.</p>
<p>He peered at her for a second with an unreadable expression.</p>
<p>“You look exactly like your mother,” he said quietly.</p>
<p>“I’ve been told as much, yes.”</p>
<p>“You have her eyes.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I’m aware. Sir.”</p>
<p>He stared at her for several seconds.</p>
<p>“Five points to Gryffindor.”</p>
<p>“Huh?”</p>
<p>“For your answers at the start,” Snape sniffed.</p>
<p>“Oh. Uh, thanks?”</p>
<p>She didn’t really think that getting a measly five points was worth having to stay back, but, at least she didn’t lose any.</p>
<p>“You may go.”</p>
<p>“O-okay…”</p>
<p>Skyla slowly stepped back and, with no further reaction from Snape, she turned and walked out of the room with confusion.</p>
<p>“What did he say?” Hermione asked when Skyla emerged, looking as though she had just been asked to perform a series of complicated equations while juggling.</p>
<p>“He… he gave me five points for Gryffindor,” Skyla said with a confused shrug.</p>
<p>“That’s… good, I guess?”</p>
<p>“... yeah…?”</p>
<p>None of the trio seemed to quite appreciate the immense significance of the first points that Snape had given to Gryffindor in almost a decade, and the three simply stared at each other in confusion at the weird behaviour, before eventually shrugging and forgetting about it. Instead of dwelling on the matter, they almost immediately forgot about it as they began to discuss their plans for the remainder of the day, which mostly included study, at Hermione’s insistence.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>Severus Snape sighed as he sat back in his chair, still sitting within the now empty classroom. He had just finished delivering the lesson for the first years that he had, admittedly, been planning for almost the entire week. He didn’t usually put a particular emphasis on a year, let alone a class, however this one had been especially important, for rather obvious reasons.</p>
<p>It had come as no surprise to anyone that Skyla Potter was undertaking her first year at Hogwarts; it wasn’t terribly difficult to work out that she would be turning eleven this year and thus, would be of starting age for the school. Many had marked the year out as a year of interest and Severus had known exactly which year would correlate with the entry of Dumbledore’s golden child and spawn of James Potter. He had been preparing for the appearance of the child for quite some time, however even still, he had been caught unprepared by the girl’s uncanny resemblance to Lily, the love of his life. He had been expecting to see a miniature James Potter; see his arrogant smirk plastered all over the girls’ face while she flaunted her wealth and power, yet he had been utterly stunned to see the beautiful replication of Lily, even down to her mannerisms, though the girl herself may not have even realised just how much she resembled her mother.</p>
<p>Severus had never forgiven himself for causing the death of the beautiful Lily Evans (he still refused to acknowledge her as ‘Potter’). He had never raised a hand or a wand towards her, not wished her any harm at all, yet it was without question his own fault that she had died. Peter Pettigrew certainly had his own input towards the Potters’ death with his disgusting betrayal, yet if it hadn’t been for Severus, then the Dark Lord would have never sought out the two to begin with. They were annoyances to his plans no doubt, and he would have liked to kill them had the opportunity arisen, yet he wouldn’t have put himself at risk by blatantly walking up to the home of the two formidable opponents and blasting down their front door if not for Severus’ actions.</p>
<p>He couldn’t help but think back to that fateful day, when he had gone rushing off to tell his former master about the prophecy he had overheard. Admittedly, he couldn’t possibly have known that the Dark Lord would immediately interpret the prophecy to mean the child of Lily and James Potter and thus, decide that the entire family needed to be eradicated as the highest priority above all else. The wording of prophecies was always vague and unclear; Severus had been fooled by Lily herself once who had read him something called ‘fortune cookies’ and convinced him that they were prophecies. The child in question could have been any of a dozen or more children, yet by his own actions the Dark Lord had been the one to fulfill the prophecy by targeting young Skyla and sealing her fate. It was almost amusing in a way; the strong sense of irony that came along with the self-fulfilling prophecy that had brought down the Dark Lord.</p>
<p>There was nothing funny about what had happened to Lily however, or the way that Severus had, pitifully, painfully, begged the Dark Lord to spare her life. It left a foul taste in his mouth to this day as he remembered pleading with the Dark Lord before he departed to murder the Potters.</p>
<p>“My Lord,” Severus had begged on his hands and knees, with tears in his eyes and his nose pressed to the ground, “please. Spare her. Spare Lily. I will do anything you want, as I always have, but please my Lord, please take mercy on her, even if it is her alone.”</p>
<p>“Severus,” the Dark Lord had hissed back in annoyance at being held up, “if she submits to my will and serves me, she will be spared. Any resistance however-”</p>
<p>“Allow me to go with you my Lord,” Severus had begged, “I can assist you! I will kill James Potter for you myself! I can reason with Lily, I-I can make her see that-”</p>
<p>“You will be nothing but a burden,” the Dark Lord said in an uncaring and dismissive tone, “and you are testing my patience as it is.”</p>
<p>“My Lord, please, she-”</p>
<p>“Crucio!”</p>
<p>Severus hardly even flinched at the pain. Pain was one of his oldest friends, the only other friend he had aside from Lily. He was no stranger to torment and he would take whatever the Dark Lord threw his way without a single sound. The Dark Lord knew it too, and merely scoffed in his direction before apparating away to the Potter Cottage. Severus had followed shortly after, consequences be damned, and since he was the only other person who had heard Peter Pettigrew’s message of betrayal he was able to apparate to the Potter Cottage. By the time he arrived however, the Dark Lord had already blown the door in and was quickly dispatching James in the hallway with his immense power and skill.</p>
<p>Severus had frozen out the front of the pretty cottage, wondering whether he should go in or not. Silence had fallen over the house and he foolishly thought that maybe Lily would surrender and save herself, or perhaps even more foolishly the Dark Lord was being merciful towards her. Yet, when he saw another flash of green light come from the upstairs bedroom, followed a few moments later by a second one, he realised with horror what had just happened.</p>
<p>“No…”</p>
<p>He had begun to stumble forward in shock when a few moments later, a horrifying sound reached his ears that caused him to fall to his knees and cover his ears; it was the agonising, painful, deathly scream of the Dark Lord as his soul was torn violently from his body. He thought that he would never forget that sound, however when he eventually rushed into the bedroom of the Potters’ child, he realised that instead he would never forget the sight of Lily lying blankly on the floor, unmoving.</p>
<p>His sorrow had no words.</p>
<p>In the years that passed following her death, Severus hadn’t given too much thought for the small child in the crib. He had hated James with a passion during their school years together, and he hated the fact that James had stolen Lily away from him even more as they progressed into adulthood. As far as Severus was concerned, the child was a living reminder of the fact that James Potter stole Lily out from under Severus’ nose and knocked her up with his foul spawn. He had been more than prepared to enforce an entire seven years of misery upon the child, starting with his far-too difficult questions that would no doubt result in the embarrassment and humiliation of the young and likely stuck-up Potter, if she was anything like her father.</p>
<p>All his bitter thoughts had left his mind however when he had finally made contact with those beautiful green eyes, that were just like Lily’s. The girl was a spitting image of her mother and it utterly broke the last few fragments of his heart that were still clinging onto his chest for dear life. She clearly had James’ messy black hair, but her soft features, pale skin and gentle voice were so much like Lily’s that if someone had told Severus he had died and gone to heaven to see Lily once again, he would have believed them. At least the girl didn’t wear any stupid glasses like her father had; he had always found it distasteful that James, a pureblood, would adorn muggle clothing for the sake of it when one could fix their sight with magic. James clearly knew that; he probably wore the stupid glasses to impress Lily and demonstrate his ‘acceptance’ of her culture or some such rubbish. Severus hated that it seemed to have worked, as he had thought Lily was above such things.</p>
<p>With nothing else to do he had decided to continue with his plan and asked the girl his questions, yet Skyla had simply answered them correctly, if a little hesitantly and clearly seeking reassurance from either himself or her friends that she was correct. It was just how Lily had been in her first year; Lily had been the smartest girl in the school yet she had been incredibly humble and if anything, a little nervous about putting herself forward in the classroom. She had every right to be arrogant since she clearly knew the answers, yet she hadn’t been challenging or combative at all; she had only been concerned that she was wrong in some way or had misunderstood something.</p>
<p>With a private, regretful sigh, he had realised that he simply couldn’t bring himself to torment the girl; he was loathe to admit it but the girl seemed quite sweet, and pure, and completely unlike her father had been at school. She didn’t sit with the rest of her house, she sat at the front with only two others who seemed interested in learning. She clearly had access to her wealth based on her tailored robes, yet she wasn’t flaunting it openly and she hardly even seemed to understand how to put the things on properly since they were all skewed and uneven. The final nail in the coffin for his hopes of getting revenge on James was the fact that the girl had no interested in fame or glory; he knew it was wrong to use legilimency on his students but he couldn’t help having a subtle peek into her mind and finding that the only thing she seemed to think about was her parents. She was desperate for any kind of parental contact and he felt a strange sense of guilt at having considered tormenting her just to get revenge on her father. She didn’t deserve it.</p>
<p>He even felt guilty about having not rewarded her appropriately for her excellence and diligence in having read far beyond the require readings. He couldn’t imagine what Minerva’s face would be like if she found out that he had given points to Gryffindor; he hoped that Skyla wouldn’t mention it and hopefully, the other students would think that he was simply being his normal self and bullying Skyla for being a Gryffindor.</p>
<p>It was interesting to Severus that when he had lightly poked at Skyla’s mind, he hadn’t seen any thoughts of Dumbledore or anything of her home. Severus had originally been under the impression that Albus had taken the girl under his wing and was raising her in some secret location, likely protected by Fidelius and with a dozen house elves attending her every need, feeding the girl’s ego and sense of self-entitlement. It was apparently not the case, since the only thought that Skyla had of home had been to do with some strange, dark underground location. He must have been getting her thoughts mixed up, since that couldn’t have been her home. Perhaps she was just thinking about the classroom itself.</p>
<p>The girl had then proceeded to create a perfect potion on her first try. Yet, instead of bragging about it as he thought she might, Skyla simply bottled the potion and put it on her desk before turning around to help her friend with his own work. It almost seemed as thought she had forgotten about her own potion entirely after that, although he had certainly noticed the skillful touches she had applied to the potion as she had diligently prepared it. Perhaps he should have given her some points for that too, but, it was painful enough for him to award the five that he had.</p>
<p>With a sigh he rubbed his tired face with hands. He had been so prepared to wallow in his hatred and to make the girl suffer on behalf of her father, yet she clearly took much more after her mother. Disappointingly, he knew he would have to find another way to relieve his stress and find someone else to torment. He didn’t really know any other way to feel better about his own miserable life, since he was forced to live with the heavy burden of his decisions every single day.</p>
<p>‘Oh well,’ he thought to himself with a small shrug, ‘there are no shortage of idiotic students to come through my classrooms. The next one to screw up better watch out though.”</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>In the middle of the Gryffindor common room while joking around with Dean and Seamus, Ron suddenly felt a strange shiver run up his spine, though he had no idea where it came from.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>“I was wondering,” Skyla mused thoughtfully over a late breakfast on Saturday morning, “how much of the conversation that I had with Remus did you actually hear?”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Hermione’s cheeks turned slightly red as she recalled, “well, I mean, I heard a fair bit…”</p>
<p>“I told her not to listen in,” Neville pointed out while he cut up his bacon, “said it wasn’t right.”</p>
<p>“I wasn’t purposefully eavesdropping or anything!” Hermione said quickly, “I just… I wanted to make sure you were okay and didn’t need any help. And you were listening too, Neville!”</p>
<p>“Only once you started!”</p>
<p>“It’s okay,” Skyla said with a shrug, “it’s not like any of it was a secret or anything. I don’t really care if you know.”</p>
<p>“I… I’m sorry to hear about how you grew up,” Hermione said softly, “I knew it was bad, but… you never really told us any details. I’m sorry if I was insensitive. You know, about your ability with the light and-”</p>
<p>Skyla shook her head.</p>
<p>“No, not at all, I’m not bothered by that. If I knew how I was doing it I’d gladly teach you to do it too,” Skyla said regretfully, “but I just… I just kind of do it. I don’t really know how.”</p>
<p>She had tried to teach Hermione how to summon her own blue ball of light for several hours last night, yet they had absolutely zero success and had eventually given up on it in favour of studying other more practical magic for their classes.</p>
<p>“Oh don’t worry,” Hermione said with a smile, “I admit I’m a little frustrated that I can’t get it, but that’s only at myself, not you.”</p>
<p>“If you can’t do it then there’s no way I could,” Neville added, “I’m still getting the hang of levitation.”</p>
<p>“You’ve improved a lot, though,” Hermione said encouragingly.</p>
<p>“Thanks to you two,” he scoffed slightly, “I’d be failing otherwise.”</p>
<p>“Well, we’re a team,” Hermione said brightly, “right?”</p>
<p>“It doesn’t feel like I’m adding much though,” Neville said, “between you teaching me Charms, Transfiguration, Potions-”</p>
<p>“I’ve done almost nothing for our Herbology project,” Skyla pointed out with a laugh.</p>
<p>“Yeah but that’s one subj-”</p>
<p>“Eurgh!”</p>
<p>Skyla and Neville looked at Hermione would was making a rather pained face while looking down to the end of the table.</p>
<p>“How does he do… that?”</p>
<p>Ron had several astonished pairs of eyes on him as he demolished a gigantic plate of what appeared to be nothing but sausages and bacon with pure bliss.</p>
<p>“Don’t stop there,” Hermione grumbled slightly in disgust, “I think there’s still a bit of the farm you are missing…”</p>
<p>“I’d be rolling around on the floor like a balloon if I ate all that,” Skyla said, almost sounding impressed.</p>
<p>“Well, I’m no small boy myself,” Neville laughed, indicating to his own rather lavish portioning, “so I can’t really judge. My grandmother keeps telling me I’m too fat.”</p>
<p>“Better than being starved,” Skyla said, “trust me on that one.”</p>
<p>Neville and Hermione looked sadly at each other, however Skyla didn’t notice as she took her eyes away from the fascinating display of Ron eating to watch a few owls sweep into the Great Hall, dropping letters and newspapers down to the students and staff.</p>
<p>“You know… I was thinking; I think Professor Lupin was right,” Hermione began hesitantly to Skyla, “I don’t think you should just go racing off to find Sirius. I’m glad that you took his advice to wait.”</p>
<p>Skyla looked down with a slight frown, before sighing softly.</p>
<p>“Yeah… yeah I know… it makes sense, it’s just-”</p>
<p>“-it’s worse knowing, right?” Neville said with a nod, “it’s like an itch you can’t scratch. You sometimes think it might be better that they be dead, then knowing they are right there and you can’t reach them.”</p>
<p>“I-yeah actually,” Skyla said with surprise, “that’s… that’s pretty much what it feels like.”</p>
<p>Skyla peered at Neville for a moment.</p>
<p>“Did you lose someone?” She asked.</p>
<p>“Well-” Neville paused, before sighing softly, “I’ll tell you some other time. Not over breakfast. Not here.”</p>
<p>“Alright.”</p>
<p>“I can’t really pretend to understand what you’re going through,” Hermione added gently, “but… I think your parents would want you to look after yourself first. Go through school, finish your education, have a life of your own, you know?”</p>
<p>“You’re probably right,” Skyla said reluctantly, “I bet that’s exactly what they would want. But I can’t leave this alone, not now that I know he’s out there, and the closest thing to family I have left. The same with Remus, I suppose, but… I don’t really know how I feel about him.”</p>
<p>She thought back to her conversation with Remus and she knew that that rushing off in search of the mysterious Sirius was a foolhardy errand, since she only had a single location that he had visited years ago. Even if he was still in London, she couldn’t count on just bumping into him on the corner; she needed more information, and better tools, to aid her future search. She knew that logically, however her heart still yearned to simply take off and go find her father’s best friend. She had been slightly disappointed by Remus; she hadn’t expected to find the man at all, yet now that she had; he hadn’t really been what she had hoped for. But then, perhaps she was being unfair; there was still so much she didn’t know about everything that had happened and she only hoped that finding Sirius might add the missing pieces into place. She had been truthful when she said to Remus that she wanted to see the man that her parents had liked, because there was clearly a reason that she was missing as to why her parents were friends with him. There had to be.</p>
<p>“Maybe we should forget about it for today?” Hermione suggested as she looked at Skyla’s downtrodden expression, “we can even… we can even skip studying for the rest of the morning and we can do something fun instead?” </p>
<p>“Who are you, again?” Neville asked playfully, getting a roll of her eyes from Hermione in response.</p>
<p>“I have been thinking that I’d like to go and see Hagrid at some point,” Skyla admitted hesitantly, “but I can go alone if that’s something you’d rather not-”</p>
<p>“We can do that,” Hermione nodded.</p>
<p>“We did just say we’re a team, right?” Neville added.</p>
<p>“Okay. I know he lives on the grounds somewhere, but I’m not really sure where…”</p>
<p>“We can just go for a walk and see if we find him? I’m okay with getting some fresh air for a bit.”</p>
<p>The three spent a little time leisurely exploring the Hogwarts grounds in greater detail, which was a rather enjoyable activity by itself. They walked around the quidditch pitch and Neville explained the concept of the game to the two girls, wandered around the greenhouses and stopped by to check on their project, and they even roamed the edges of the Forbidden Forest, although both Neville and Hermione were reluctant to get too close. Skyla could see why it had its name as she peered into the depths; the unnatural darkness within the trees and the eerie aura that it generated caused shivers to run down her spine at the sight. She almost thought, for a bizarre moment, that she could see strange eyes behind a tree yet once she had blinked, they were gone. </p>
<p>“Trick of the light, I suppose…” Skyla said quietly to herself.</p>
<p>“Hm?” Hermione asked.</p>
<p>“Oh, nothing.”</p>
<p>“Look, there he is,” Neville pointed out, indicating towards a small hut on the edge of the forest where Hagrid was chopping wood outside on a large log, heaving his axe above his head and striking down with immense force.</p>
<p>“Hi Hagrid,” Skyla called out as the three approached.</p>
<p>“Oh? Skyla!” Hagrid said happily as he huffed and lowered his axe, “how nice to see ya.”</p>
<p>“Nice to see you too Hagrid,” Skyla said with a smile, “is this your house?”</p>
<p>Skyla looked curiously at the hut; it looked quite cosy, although perhaps a little small for someone of Hagrid’s size. It had a beautiful location though; on the edge of the forest with a good view of the grounds and the lake. It looked quite peaceful and serene.</p>
<p>“Yeah this is where I live,” he said with a shrug, “it’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.”</p>
<p>He paused guiltily after seeing Skyla’s slightly amused expression at his words.</p>
<p>“Ah… right,” he chuckled nervously, “I guess I shouldn’t really complain to you about something like tha’… anyway… please, come inside.”</p>
<p>The hut turned out to be a single cramped room, with a bed squashed into the corner next to a stone fireplace and a puffy, well-used lounge pushed up against the single window that was open and letting in some warmth and air. His ‘kitchen’ space was extremely cluttered with utensils everywhere and by standing in the middle of the hut, Hagrid almost had everything he needed within arms reach.</p>
<p>“Sorry ‘bout the mess,” he said awkwardly, “I uh, I didn’t expect to be having company.”</p>
<p>“I meant to come visit sooner,” Skyla said quickly, “but, it’s been a very busy week.”</p>
<p>“Oh don’t you worry about tha’,” Hagrid said with a smile, “it’s your first week at Hogwarts! How are  you finding everything?”</p>
<p>Hagrid indicated towards the lounge and the three students made their way over and sat down.</p>
<p>“It’s going good,” Skyla said happily, “this is Neville and Hermione, friends of mine.”</p>
<p>Skyla introduced the two, who both gave their polite greetings to Hagrid.</p>
<p>“Nice to meet ya both. Making friends already, eh?” Hagrid chuckled, “just like your father. He was popular in school and all. But then your mother was just as well liked, I suppose. Maybe more so, now I think ‘bout it. Ain’t no-one who didn’t like Lily.”</p>
<p>“Did you go to school with my parents?” Skyla asked curiously, “how did you know them?”</p>
<p>“Me? Nah, younger than me they were by a good thirty years,” Hagrid laughed, “though I guess I should be flattered that you think I’m that young. I hadn’t been long working the grounds when they came through, and was still there after they left.”</p>
<p>“Thirty years?” Skyla asked in surprise, “just how old are you?”</p>
<p>“Skyla,” Neville whispered, “it’s considered rude to ask people their age in magical society-”</p>
<p>“And muggle,” Hermione added, but Hagrid just waved them off with a laugh.</p>
<p>“That’s alright,” he said warmly, “I’ll be goin’ on sixty-four this year.”</p>
<p>“Sixty-four? But you don’t look that old at all!”</p>
<p>Hagrid chuckled again, “I’m glad to hear it. Magical blood will do that to you, though. I know it’s rare for muggles to get to over a hundred, but for those with magic in them it’s not uncommon at all. Professor Dumbledore is over a hundred and still pretty spry as it were. Plenty of witches and wizards out there in the world who are pushing one-fifty. Some of the lucky ones might even make close to two hundred on occasion.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t know that,” Hermione mused, “that’s incredible. How is there such a big difference?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, look I’m no expert but it’s somethin’ about our bodies usin’ magic to repair itself unknowingly as we get older,” Hagrid said while scratching his head slightly, “it’s a good thing and a bad thing.”</p>
<p>“Why would that ever be a bad thing?” Hermione asked curiously.</p>
<p>“Well, ‘cause I think when people live too long they don’t feel the need to do anythin’,” Hagrid explained, “no-one wants to change or improve things. I mean, look at the muggles; in the last sixty years muggle London has changed and looks like a completely different country. When you might die at seventy though, I think you want to get a lot more done in your life than when you think you may live to two hundred.”</p>
<p>“That makes sense, actually,” Hermione considered, nodding along, “I’ve read a few biographies of famous historical people and most of them were motivated by the need to change things within their short lifespan, especially way back in the past. Those who only lived into their thirties or forties seemed to have a lot of drive to achieve things.”</p>
<p>“Yeah there’s a lot of things in our world that haven’t changed much in the last two hundred years,” Hagrid said sadly, “and the thing is tha’ a lot of magical people hold it over the muggles ‘cause we grow up quicker, develop faster, and live longer. But, if you didn’t do nothin’ in those two hundred years, does it really matter?”</p>
<p>“What about muggleborns?” Hermione asked, “like me?”</p>
<p>“If you got magic then you got magic,” Hagrid shrugged, “don’t matter who your parents were, you’ll probably live as long as the rest. They say it’s in your blood and such, but I don’t know about all tha’ truth be told. I think it’s just magic, you know? Not everythin’ needs to have an answer.”</p>
<p>“I can’t imagine living to two hundred,” Skyla mused, “what would you even do for that long?”</p>
<p>“Not much of anythin’ if you ask most old mages,” Hagrid chuckled, “but I ain’t done that much in my first sixty years either if I’m bein’ honest. I’m not really much better than the others in the end. Did ya want a cuppa, by the way?”</p>
<p>The three had quite a pleasant day with Hagrid as they discussed all manner of things relating to magic and magical society. Hermione and Skyla were both quite interested to hear his perspective, having grown up in muggle environments. Neville nodded along with a few things that Hagrid said, and added his own input when he knew something that Hagrid didn’t.</p>
<p>Eventually the topic came back around to Skyla’s parents once again, however, as Hagrid told a few stories from his younger days.</p>
<p>“-and then I says to Professor McGonagall,” Hagrid laughed as he finished his story, “but Professor ma'am, it wasn’t his fault! And then she asks me who it was then and… well it was actually your father truth be told, but I couldn’t tell her that, could I? So I just says it was Filch and she goes off on him instead! And the whole time, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all sitting behind the statue tryin’ not to laugh and get caught!”</p>
<p>The trio laughed along, Skyla smiling slightly at the idea of her trouble-making father and what sounded like his gang of adventurous youths.</p>
<p>“Remus doesn’t seem like that now though,” Skyla said with a slight frown, “it’s hard to imagine him being part of something like that. At least, not from the conversation we had. Can’t imagine him running around and causing trouble and getting up to all sorts of things with my father.”</p>
<p>“He took the loss of your parents quite hard, he did,” Hagrid said with his laughter slowly fading away, “we all did, really. It was a mixed day; on the one hand people were rejoicing ‘cause You-Know-Who was dead, but then on the other we paid a very heavy price for it. That day changed a lot of people, some for better and some… well.”</p>
<p>“Do you remember Sirius?” Skyla asked.</p>
<p>“Aye, of course,” Hagrid said slowly, “what do you know about him?”</p>
<p>“I know that he was my dad’s best friend, and that he’s wanted for mass murder of over a dozen innocent muggles,” Skyla said.</p>
<p>“Ah. So you have heard ‘bout that.”</p>
<p>“I also know that he’s still alive and out there somewhere,” Skyla added, “and that there are a lot of questions he has to answer.”</p>
<p>“Oh, well- I mean, that’s true he’s still meant to be alive in theory, but he hasn’t shown up for ten years. Not a peep. He’s long gone to somewhere far away by now anyway, you don’t have to worry about Sirius Black coming back. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was dead, truth be told-”</p>
<p>“Yes, well,” Skyla decided to withhold the information that she had actually had a conversation with the man before (in a manner of speaking), “I was just hoping you could tell me more about him. From your perspective.”</p>
<p>“Oh? Well when he was at school, Sirius was a wild one,” Hagrid chuckled slightly, “I tell you; there was no girl in this school who didn’t have an eye for him. A few boys I’d wager as well. He was wealthy, dashingly handsome and came from a noble family, the Black family. But more than that, he was very clever and an exceptionally talented young wizard. Bit arrogant at times, truth be told, but a good heart under the outward persona. I think he and James both riled each other up, you know, made everything a competition and such. They caused a lot of trouble for the teachers, yet, I bet ya’ most of those teachers still here will tell you they had a soft spot for those boys.”</p>
<p>“Would you say he was a good person?” Skyla asked.</p>
<p>“Oh Sirius Black was a good boy, no doubt about it,” Hagrid nodded, “he was a bit reckless when he was younger and they often bullied-well, someone, but in their later years they kind of grew out of that a bit and matured slightly. Sirius was very brave and always the first one to step forward and back up James in anything, they were a bit full of themselves at times but then they also did some good deeds; helped out students who were in trouble at times and even once went racing out into the Forbidden Forest to rescue a lost first year! I had to drag them all out myself! Right headache that was…”</p>
<p>Skyla smiled at her mental image of the scene.</p>
<p>“That was those boys though,” Hagrid said fondly, “they were smart but sometimes, their sense of daring outweighed their logic. Especially if it came to rescuing some other student in distress.”</p>
<p>“I find that very interesting then,” Skyla said.</p>
<p>“Why is that?”</p>
<p>“Because the more I hear about Sirius,” Skyla mused, “the more I don’t think he sounds like he would blown up a dozen innocent muggles in the street.”</p>
<p>Hagrid paused.</p>
<p>“Ah. Look… I’ve often wondered meself, but… that was what they said, wasn’t it? Eye witnesses and that saw the whole thing. I’ll admit that it don’t seem right, but, he had just lost James and Lily and gone off the deep end a bit… he was certainly strong enough to pull it off, at any rate. I dunno Skyla, grief does things to people it does.”</p>
<p>“Hm…”</p>
<p>Skyla said no more on the topic but simply continued to think deeply to herself for the remainder of their visit, even as the sun began to start lowering down towards the horizon.</p>
<p>“I better let you lot go,” Hagrid said eventually with a sigh, “you spent enough time out here with a dinosaur like me.”</p>
<p>“It’s been fascinating,” Hermione said eagerly, “I feel like I’ve learned a lot from this. Thank you, Hagrid.”</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>Skyla snickered slightly as she watched Hagrid swell with pride and his cheeks turn a little red.</p>
<p>“Well, you know I am a staff member after all,” he said proudly, “education is a part of everything we do here, even if I don’t teach a class myself.”</p>
<p>“Have you thought about teaching?” Neville asked.</p>
<p>Hagrid shook his head, “nah. I know about life and all that, but I don’t know much about magic and books and-”</p>
<p>“That’s what we have have books for though,” Neville pointed out, “we can read books on our own. I think you could make a good teacher; you explain things nice and simply.”</p>
<p>“You think so?” Hagrid mused for a moment, before shaking his head quickly, “nah… nah not me…”</p>
<p>Despite his adamant denial, the three students departed his hut a few minutes later and he seemed to be lost in thought and a little distracted as he said goodbye.</p>
<p>“I’d like to be taught by him I think,” Neville commented as they left, “he’s really easy to listen to and learn from.”</p>
<p>“Well, I doubt he would be good for transfiguration or something,” Hermione pointed out, “since you need good magical theory for that, but, maybe History of Magic would suit him? He can’t be any worse than Binns, that’s for sure… that ghost doesn’t even know which way is up. Literally. Are-are you alright, Skyla?”</p>
<p>Skyla was still slightly distracted and hadn’t commented too much towards the end of their visit, and was simply walking alongside the other two silently.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I’m okay,” she said distractedly, “just… just thinking about Sirius. I just want to see him, find out the truth, you know? I hate not knowing.”</p>
<p>Hermione looked at her with a sympathetic expression.</p>
<p>“Well… maybe in the holidays Professor Lupin will be able to track him down, and you’ll get some answers then?”</p>
<p>“I hope so…”</p>
<p>Skyla sighed as she looked out to the sky, wondering what Sirius was doing right now. Part of her desperately wanted to know, yet another part of her couldn’t help but wonder nervously;</p>
<p>What if everyone had been right and Sirius was actually a horrible person?</p>
<p>It seemed as though for every answer she found in the magical world, another unanswered question immediately came along to replace it.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>While Skyla stared into the sky in the far north, at that very same moment, back in the heart of London, Sirius Black was striding straight down the middle of Diagon Alley. He might have been one of the Ministries ‘most wanted’ criminals, but even the Ministry wouldn’t have recognised him due to his altered appearance, courtesy of the ‘image-copying’ polyjuice potion he had painfully brewed over the course of the previous month. He was currently appearing to the outside world to be a middle-aged man with brown hair and glasses, taking an afternoon stroll through the shops. It had been easy enough to pluck a hair from the random man and leave him knocked out harmlessly in a locked bathroom; that had been the least of his worries. It had been the easiest part in fact; it had been far more difficult to obtain the highly specific ingredients for the potion as he couldn’t exactly walk into an apothecary and buy them (some folk had long memories and would spot him immediately) and even with the ingredients, he hadn’t brewed the immensely complicated potion since his fifth year (though the memory of it did still cause him to smile). With a small amount of guile, some application of force and a lot of theft, he was able to get what he needed and had finally brewed the potion (with a little luck), which had all lead him to this one, important moment. </p>
<p>Ten years worth of living like an animal (quite literally) had finally brought him to this. Everything that he had planned rested on the outcome of the next few minutes; he would either achieve his goal right here and now, or he would spend the rest of his life behind bars.</p>
<p>He took a deep breath in as he approached the front of Gringotts bank and the door magically swung open for him. He clutched the smooth, stone bowl that he was holding in his arms and headed straight for the front counter. He knew that he was short on time; the goblins were exceedingly clever and he had no doubt that he was already being appraised by security as a potential thief. They may have already detected that he was under polyjuice potion; it wasn’t exactly an uncommon method of attempting to gain access to the vaults and there was no doubt in his mind that the goblins would have specific protections in place against the potion.</p>
<p>He didn’t need to get into the vaults however, he only needed the potion to safely get him to the front counter, which it did. He strode confidently towards the desk, meeting the dark and beady eyes of the goblin who was seated there.</p>
<p>“Yes?” The goblin said nonchalantly.</p>
<p>“I need to see Krylk. Bleeding Eyes.”</p>
<p>The goblin slowly stopped what he was doing and stared at Sirius suspiciously.</p>
<p>“And why would you need to see him, out of anyone…?”</p>
<p>“He is still the Potter account manager, is he not?”</p>
<p>The goblin stared at Sirius for a moment, clearly debating about calling for security (who were already beginning to ‘casually’ wander over in Sirius’ direction).</p>
<p>“Perhaps he is… and perhaps he is not,” the goblin said curiously, “and why would that be of any interest to you?”</p>
<p>Sirius placed the stone bowl down on the desk with a challenging look.</p>
<p>“Because I need to show him a memory. One that I think he will be very interested to see. One that ALL of Gringotts will very interested to see.”</p>
<p>The goblin raised a finger at that, halting the approach of the security guards.</p>
<p>“Why would we care about a memory?” The goblin asked.</p>
<p>“Because this memory,” Sirius said seriously, putting all of his sincerity into his words, “will allow you to get what you have always wanted. Will give you what you goblins have always desired above all else.”</p>
<p>“And that is?”</p>
<p>Sirius smirked slightly.</p>
<p>“... the downfall of the Ministry.”</p>
<p>The goblin stared at him for a moment, as if gauging the truth in his words. His finger still hovered in the air, as if he were an executioner waiting to swing the final stroke.</p>
<p>The seconds continued to drag out as Sirius and the goblin faced off, neither backing down or looking away.</p>
<p>“Blacktooth...” the goblin eventually said to another goblin behind him, all the while keeping his eyes locked firmly on Sirius.</p>
<p>“... get me Bleeding Eyes. Right now.”</p>
<p>***************</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Who Dares, Wins</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On the Tuesday morning of their second week of classes, Skyla, Hermione and Neville sat around at breakfast discussing (like most of their year) the upcoming alteration to their timetable. Thankfully Hermione was constantly checking her timetable, as the alteration had been made without an announcement and had simply been applied to their original timetables through magic.</p>
<p>“Flying lessons?” Skyla asked curiously.</p>
<p>“Lesson - just the one, looks like our D.A.D.A was pushed back to Friday this week,” Hermione clarified.</p>
<p>“I thought first years couldn’t fly?” Neville said, confused.</p>
<p>“They said we can’t bring a broom; doesn’t mean we can’t fly under supervision though,” Hermione shrugged slightly, “it’s all in the wording, I suppose.”</p>
<p>“But first years can’t join the quidditch team?” Neville said, “I’ve heard that said before.”</p>
<p>“It’s not that first years aren’t allowed, it’s just that no-one ever gets past try-outs,” Hermione corrected, “that’s what Penelope, the prefect, was saying when I spoke to her the other day.”</p>
<p>“Well of course; how are they meant to get good at flying if they aren’t allowed a broom?” Skyla asked, shaking her head at the strange rule, “if they don’t want first years to play then just don’t let first years play…”</p>
<p>“Hey it wasn’t me who made the rules,” Hermione shrugged, “and as useful as flying sounds, I don’t think it’s going to be for me.”</p>
<p>“You haven’t even tried it yet,” Skyla pointed out.</p>
<p>“I-I don’t like heights,” Hermione admitted.</p>
<p>“I’ve never really tested whether I do or not,” Skyla considered, “I guess we’ll find out. I wish it wasn’t with Slytherin though…”</p>
<p>The flying lessons had been divided into two groups; the first class would be with Gryffindor and Slytherin while the second class after lunch would be shared between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.</p>
<p>“I wish they had given us some more warning,” Hermione complained a few hours later as they trudged out onto the grounds, “I mean really, so last minute. Completely disorganised…”</p>
<p>Hermione might have been the only student who was annoyed at the sudden adjustment to their timetable as the rest of the year seemed to be overjoyed to be ‘forced’ outside to fly around in the sky. Skyla had to admit that it sounded quite exciting; as they approached the designated area of the grounds where they were to meet ‘Madam Hooch’, she noticed that there were two rows of brooms lying on the ground parallel to each other. Understanding the idea immediately, the students all split off into two groups (naturally the Gryffindors on one side and the Slytherins on the other) and took their place next to a broom, waiting for the arrival of their teacher (though they didn’t have to wait for long).</p>
<p>“Alright, alright, no-one in the air already? A good start,” Madam Hooch, an older witch with short, grey hair called out as she briskly made her way towards the area, “fantastic. No rule breakers yet. Right! So, today you’re going to be learning how to fly. I’ve been flying for many years now and if I can still do it at my age, you can too!”</p>
<p>Skyla had to admit that it was slightly reassuring to know that the greying Madam Hooch was perfectly confident in her ability to fly despite her advanced age, although she supposed that Hooch’s older age was probably less indicative of health and fitness than it would be for a muggle, due to the impact of magic on her body.</p>
<p>“Flying can be quite dangerous,” Hooch continued, “but if you follow the instructions CLEARLY we shan’t have any problems. I suppose that’s what we have a hospital wing for though,” she added as an afterthought, which was not entirely reassuring to a few of the especially nervous students that were present.</p>
<p>“Now, stand next to your broom and extend your dominant hand out over the handle.”</p>
<p>The students all quickly complied, although Skyla had to shuffle her broom to the side slightly with her foot, since Neville was standing to the left of his broom next to her, while Skyla needed to stand to her right, causing a slightly awkward shuffling to ensue.</p>
<p>“The joys of being left-handed,” Skyla grumbled as she maneuvered, causing Neville to give her a sympathetic look as he tried to make some more space.</p>
<p>“On my command, you will hold your hand steady and say very clearly; ‘up’! Ready…? Now!”</p>
<p>“Up!” The students all said the word as one group, however for most of the students; nothing happened. </p>
<p>“Up! Up! Up!” Various chanting broke out as the students attempted to brute-force their broom into complying when the first attempt failed.</p>
<p>Skyla looked around, surprised to see that she was one of the handful of people for which their broom had actually obeyed. She held the old, worn, wooden handle of the well-used broom in her left hand, while she looked around to see that Draco was holding his own broom with a smug look, Pansy, surprisingly, was holding hers (although she didn’t even seem to be interested in it at all as she was too busy giggling about something with her friend) and even more surprisingly, Ron was holding his broom as though it were an everyday task for him (although Skyla vaguely remembered something that Ron had said about playing quidditch previously).</p>
<p>“Up!”</p>
<p>Hermione and Neville both seemed to be having difficulty and were growing frustrated; Neville’s broom was vibrating violently on the ground as if it were having a seizure while Hermione’s absolutely refused to move in the slightest.</p>
<p>“You need to have confidence!” Hooch explained loudly to those who were struggling, “even old brooms like these will still respond to your magic! If you don’t put enough magic into it, it won’t react!”</p>
<p>“How do we put magic into it?” Seamus asked from down the line with a huff of frustration, “should we use our wand?”</p>
<p>He pulled out his wand and aimed it at the broom, however Hooch quickly ran over to him, waving her hands in the air rapidly.</p>
<p>“Put that thing away!” she said crossly, “before you break something. These are old but it doesn’t mean they are cheap.”</p>
<p>Dean and Ron both snickered while Seamus put his wand away in a huff.</p>
<p>“You have to feel it!” she continued to the students as she strolled up and down, “be confident! Reach out with your magic and feel it, connect to it!”</p>
<p>“This is ridiculous,” Hermione muttered, “it’s completely illogical.”</p>
<p>“Of course it is!” Hooch agreed as she walked past, making Hermione blush slightly at having been heard, “but since when has magic been logical? This is about emotion! Passion! The magic within!”</p>
<p>“Ridiculous…”</p>
<p>“She’s right though,” Skyla said as realisation dawned on her, “that’s exactly how I do the thing with my ball of light. I just kind of… I think about it, and I want it to happen, and I believe in it, and it does. I kind of… ‘will’ it to happen.”</p>
<p>“Ball of light?” Hooch asked curiously.</p>
<p>Skyla gave her a quick demonstration by making her small floating orb of light appear for a moment, before causing it to withdraw back into her hand.</p>
<p>“How marvelous!” Hooch commented, impressed, “yes indeed, flying follows many principles of wandless magic; it is a form of wandless magic itself, in a sense. It’s different than casting a spell, but the core of it is the same; you’re using your inner magical core to guide your intentions. Let your feelings and emotions be your wand, enforce your will upon the broom!”</p>
<p>After a few more minutes, Neville had managed to get his broom to hover at ankle height for a moment, while Hermione’s broom still utterly refused to move at all. Annoyed, she was forced to simply bend down and pick it up as they were moving onto the next section of their lesson.</p>
<p>“It will make more sense to some of you once you’re on the broom,” Hooch said confidently, “you can really feel that connection to it then. To mount your broom, you simply stand beside it like so- and then you swing one leg over, like thus-”</p>
<p>The students mirrored her actions as they mounted their broom into a riding position, as if it were a horse or a motorbike. Some people were clearly holding their broom in place between their knees by force, however Skyla realised after a moment that her broom was quite happy to simply sit there and float in the air if she let it go; she was able to comfortably mount it that way and have one foot resting on the metal footrest to the side while her other was still planted on the ground. She had the slightly amusing thought that she felt rather like a motorbike rider waiting at a red light. </p>
<p>She rather liked this feeling.</p>
<p>“How are you doing that!?” Hermione asked, sounding almost a little hysterical.</p>
<p>Skyla just shrugged; she didn’t really have an answer. She was just going by feeling, and it simply felt right.</p>
<p>“Now, when I give the command, you will kick off from the ground. Hard. You will hover in the air for a moment, then tip the nose of your broom forward to lower yourself back down to the ground. Ready?”</p>
<p>“Oh god…”</p>
<p>Skyla could hear Hermione stressing beside her, but she could offer little more than a few words of encouragement and a reassuring smile. Unlike Hermione, Skyla was actually becoming quite excited to take off and see what it felt like.</p>
<p>“One! Two-”</p>
<p>“What the-”</p>
<p>Skyla looked beside her to see that Neville was slowly rising into the air, well before Hooch had given the command to begin.</p>
<p>“You there, Mr… Longbottom!” Hooch called out as she tried to remember his name, “come down this instant!”</p>
<p>“I’m trying!”</p>
<p>Neville continued to rise of the broom’s own accord, while desperately attempting to push the nose of the broom forward, to no avail. He was starting to approach dangerous heights as he continued to rise into the air, while Hooch tried to call out instructions to him.</p>
<p>Struck by a sudden inspiration, and perhaps feeling slightly reckless from the confidence her success so far had given her, Skyla make a snap decision and decided to kick off from the ground herself, rising up into the air. It took her a brief second to gain full control, however she quickly realised as she pulled back on the handle of the broom that it caused the broom to raise higher into the air. She pulled back a little further and continued to rapidly rise until she reached Neville’s height, where the boy was beginning to enter into complete panic.</p>
<p>“Skyla!” he exclaimed wildly with fear, “what do I do!?”</p>
<p>“Here!”</p>
<p>Skyla reached over and took hold of his broom with her right hand, while keeping her left on the handle of her own. She pressed down firmly with both hands while willing the brooms to go down, and to her relief they did; both brooms lowered down to the ground in a controlled manner until they were both able to plant their feet down with a sigh of relief. Neville quickly hopped off his broom as soon as he could; his face completely white and his heart clearly racing as he let out a sigh of relief and dropped the broom immediately. Skyla looked over with amusement to see that Hermione had already gotten off her own broom and had put it down on the ground with a disapproving look.</p>
<p>“Not bad there, Miss Potter,” Hooch commented, “good save of Mr Longbottom. Good control of your broom too, especially when trying to control two brooms at once. You been flying for long?”</p>
<p>“I’ve never flown before,” Skyla admitted, “this is the first time I’ve properly seen a broom up close.”</p>
<p>Hooch raised an eyebrow.</p>
<p>“I’ll be seeing you on the quiddich pitch at some point,” she said with a nod, “no doubt about that. Your father’s input I daresay.”</p>
<p>“Hagrid mentioned that he was a good flyer,” Skyla said.</p>
<p>“A good flyer?” Hooch laughed, “might have been the best I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something.”</p>
<p>“Right! As Miss Potter here just demonstrated, good flying is all about control!” She called out to the rest of the class as she continued the lesson, “let’s give it a go together. Remember! Stay in control and just press the nose of your broom down if you get into any trouble. It’s about having confidence! Ready? One-two-three!”</p>
<p>Skyla found it very strange as she rose into the air once again; it was incredibly easy to simply move up and down in the air and it felt no more difficult to her than it was to breathe. Instead, she found it much more difficult to simply keep herself in the boring rise and fall routine; she could feel the broom between her legs and the magic that it held itching to be released. Her own magic was responding to it and she felt the overwhelming desire to simply take off and go dashing around the grounds as fast as she could, but she knew she was not allowed.</p>
<p>Instead, she simply followed Hooch’s instructions to the letter, as difficult as it was to contain herself, and eventually Hooch had managed to get most of the students flying around in a very slow, very boring circle (except for Hermione and Neville, who had both refused to even pick up their brooms again, no matter what Hooch said to try and encourage them).</p>
<p>“Excellent,” Hooch called happily to the rest, “you’ve mastered the basics and that should get you out of trouble if you ever find yourself needing to fly. Of course, there is far more than that you can do on a broom, but that is something you’ll have to discover another time.”</p>
<p>Skyla returned to the ground with a sad sigh, forcing herself to dismount with disappointment at the uninteresting maneuvers they had been doing. The other students followed suit, except for Draco and Ron who remained in the air for some reason. After a moment, Skyla realised that, bizarrely, the two were having some kind of airborne argument and their voices were continuing to rise in volume and emotion.</p>
<p>“-about my mother!” Ron shouted.</p>
<p>“Well then you shut your fat mouth about my father!” Draco angrily shouted back.</p>
<p>“Who are you calling fat!?” Ron roared, before stunning everyone that was watching by lowering himself to his broom and charging directly at Draco. It had been the last thing that Draco had been expecting and he scrambled to maneuver out of the way in surprise, though he wasn’t fast enough.</p>
<p>“AHHHH!”</p>
<p>Ron collided painfully with Draco and both boys went flying off their brooms. They were not overly high up so it wasn’t a lethal height by any means, however they both landed with a solid enough thud that they let out matching cries of pain from the landing.</p>
<p>“What in Merlin’s name were you thinking!?” Hooch yelled in shock, “ten, no- thirty, no- fifty points from Gryffindor!”</p>
<p>Hooch pulled out her wand and waved it, sending a strange, silvery substance flying through the air and darting off into the castle. Skyla watched it leave with immense fascination, however she was eventually distracted by the pained sounds of the boys as Hooch turned them both over to look at their injuries.</p>
<p>“Ah,” Hooch said with a small tut as she looked at Draco, “broken wrist by the look of it.”</p>
<p>“MY LEG!”</p>
<p>Ron yelled in shock as he looked down to see his ankle that was twisted awkwardly.</p>
<p>“Oh, not to worry about that,” Hooch said airily as quickly cast a numbing charm on both boys, “Poppy will fix it all up in no time. I’d be more worried about-”</p>
<p>“What on EARTH is happening here?” Professor McGonagall called out in astonishment at the scene, “how did these two manage to injure themselves so severely? How high were they flying?”</p>
<p>“Not to due with height Minerva,” Hooch said crossly, “but to do with recklessness. They decided to have an argument and instead of settling things like mature and responsible Hogwarts students, ‘this’ one thought he would rather have fisticuffs in the air and settle things like apes!”</p>
<p>McGonagall looked over to Ron, who was still staring with shock at his injured foot and not listening to a word that was being said.</p>
<p>“Why am I not surprised,” McGonagall huffed, “fifty points from Gryffindor!”</p>
<p>“I already took fifty off him, Minerva,” Hooch pointed out.</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>Ron was finally distracted away from his foot and he gaped like a fish out of water at McGonagall’s stern expression, which only seemed to annoy her further.</p>
<p>“And detention for a month,” McGonagall added.</p>
<p>“WHAT? BUT HE-”</p>
<p>“And I’ll be writing to your family about your poor performances as-well,” McGonagall said sternly, “I’m disappointed on behalf of Percy. He’ll be devastated to hear about this. You bring shame to your family with your actions.”</p>
<p>“NO BUT MALFOY-”</p>
<p>“One more word, and we’ll be consulting with the headmaster,” McGonagall said in growing anger, “zip it, Mr Weasley.”</p>
<p>Ron struggled internally with himself for a moment, but he eventually burst out;</p>
<p>“MALFOY INSULTED MY MOTHER!”</p>
<p>McGonagall peered down at Ron.</p>
<p>“I’ve known Molly for a very long time. Considerably longer than even you have,” she pointed out, “and she’s a wonderful woman is she not?”</p>
<p>“Well, yeah, she’s my mum,” Ron said, with confusion.</p>
<p>“Then why do you think that you need to knock someone off their broom for insults that you know aren’t true? Instead of reporting it to Madam Hooch, who would have likely deducted points from Slytherin and kept Mr Malfoy on the ground for the rest of the day-”</p>
<p>“That would have been appropriate,” Hooch agreed.</p>
<p>“-instead you are now facing potential suspension for assaulting another student,” McGonagall said gravely, “once Mr Malfoy’s father hears of this-”</p>
<p>“-Oh he will,” Draco commented darkly as he looked at his swollen wrist, “you just wait Weasley…”</p>
<p>“-then your punishment may end up out of my hands,” McGonagall said darkly, “I suggest that you keep quiet, do as your told and take the punishment handed out to you without complaint, lest you face a much worse fate.”</p>
<p>Ron looked utterly devastated as he stared at McGonagall with tears in his eyes.</p>
<p>“Now, let’s get you two to the hospital wing,” she said with finality, “I need a volunteer to assist Mr Weasley.”</p>
<p>She looked around to the gathered students, all of whom took several steps back, almost too afraid of the harsh punishments to even be in the same location as Ron. Even Dean and Seamus seemed to casually sink to the back of the crowd, distancing themselves from the boy who had just managed to lose a massive chunk of points for Gryffindor once again.</p>
<p>Ron began to sob into his hands, which was quite uncomfortable for all to witness. Skyla noticed Lavender and Parvati whispering together with amusement on their faces, which caused her to flare in anger.</p>
<p>“Fine, I’ll do it.”</p>
<p>Hermione and Neville (and most of the other students) turned with shock to see that Skyla had stepped forward with a determined expression. McGonagall nodded at her and Skyla walked over to Ron, attempting to figure out the best way to get him on his feet. In the end, she simply crouched down and offered her arm, doing her best to steady the boy as he used her arm for support to rise up onto one leg, his injured foot hovering above the ground.</p>
<p>“Put your arm around my shoulder,” Skyla instructed, and she tried desperately to hold back a flinch as his arm wrapped around her shoulder for support while he tried to keep his weight off his injured leg. She half expected him to make some kind of comment, but he seemed too stunned to come up with anything.</p>
<p>“I thought you would have stuck with Granger,” Ron said quietly as they hobbled towards the hospital wing with Professor McGonagall and Draco trailing behind them.</p>
<p>“Well, it wasn’t like anyone else was offering to help you,” Skyla said through pursed lips, “not even your so called ‘friends’. And just to be clear, I think what you did was incredibly stupid-”</p>
<p>Ron scoffed, “yeah that’s me. Stupid Ron.”</p>
<p>Skyla rolled her eyes slightly, “-but, we’re meant to be a team, right? All of us, and I don’t just mean in Gryffindor but in Hogwarts. We have this beautiful magical world and it seems that all anyone wants to do is divide and fight over it. Magical or muggle, Gryffindor or Slytherin, you and Hermione. I’m already starting to get sick of it, none of you seem to appreciate any of the wonderful things that you have here.”</p>
<p>Ron could said nothing to that and simply stared at the ground in deep thought as they walked. Eventually, they made it to the hospital wing and Skyla was relieved when Madam Pomfrey took over from her, escorting Ron to a nearby bed. Skyla shuddered slightly as Ron’s arm was removed from around her shoulders; it had been an incredibly uncomfortable sensation that she wished to forget had ever happened.</p>
<p>With Ron taken care off, Skyla felt a final shiver run through her body and turned to depart, halfheartedly considering going for a shower.</p>
<p>“A moment, Potter,” McGonagall said, getting her attention just as she was about to leave.</p>
<p>“Yes, Professor?”</p>
<p>“That was very wise, what you said to Ronald,” McGonagall said quietly, “profound beyond your years. I know many a grown witch and wizard who could take a lesson from that.”</p>
<p>Skyla simply shrugged, “it just makes sense doesn’t it? We’re all in this together. I don’t want to see more people fighting and dividing over stupid things that I don’t even understand. I don’t see why we can’t all just get along?”</p>
<p>McGonagall, surprisingly, smiled at her words.</p>
<p>“Well, I think your maturity and good nature is admirable Miss Potter,” she said warmly, “take… fifty points for Gryffindor.”</p>
<p>“Fifty!?” Skyla exclaimed, but McGonagall quickly hushed her.</p>
<p>“I think it’s well earned, don’t you?” she said with a slight wink, “just don’t tell anyone about it. It was meant to be a punishment but if Mr Weasley here doesn’t know Gryffindor got the points back, then, the lesson still stands does it not? I’d really rather not lose again to Severus this year if we can help it…”</p>
<p>Skyla ogled McGonagall for a moment, before laughing slightly, “yes, Professor. Not a word.”</p>
<p>“Good girl.”</p>
<p>Shaking her head slightly, Skyla departed the hospital wing and skipped back to Hermione and Neville, with a satisfied smile on her face. She might not have been able to tell anyone about the regained points (some of them at least), but knowing that she had the admiration of her Head of House was satisfying enough on its own.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>In the foyer of Gringotts bank, Sirius stared intently at the familiar looking goblin before him. It was strange to be looking at him once again after so many years; how many times had Sirius seen Krylk? After James’ father had passed away and James had taken control of the accounts in his teen years, they had both journeyed down to the vaults below on a regular basis to withdraw money, at James’ insistence. Sirius hadn’t needed to worry about money at all while he was part of the Black family, but after he had ran away from home, he had quickly begun to realise the value of gold (or more specifically, what happened when you didn’t have it). James had openly shared anything with Sirius for years and that included his gold, yet Sirius had always been reserved with what he had taken and anything that he did take, he fully intended to pay back one day with interest.</p>
<p>He could no longer pay James back the gold directly, yet he could do the next best thing.</p>
<p>“This way.”</p>
<p>Krylk, or to those who dared; Bleeding Eyes, led Sirius into a side room with an escort of security goblins, where there was a simple desk and two chairs waiting. The escort began to surround Sirius threateningly, however Bleeding Eyes held up his hand, causing them to stop.</p>
<p>“Leave us.”</p>
<p>The security detail looked at each other for a moment, before shrugging and departing back out into the bank. Within Gringotts, rank was highly respected and if a goblin was told to do something by someone higher than him; he did it, without question. Bleeding Eyes waited until the last security guard had left, before he indicated to the two seats and sat down across from Sirius, staring at him intently.</p>
<p>“I’ve been trying to think of who might enter Gringotts under polyjuice and ask about the Potter accounts,” Bleeding Eyes mused thoughtfully, baring his long sharp teeth towards an unflinching Sirius.</p>
<p>“And what did you determine?” Sirius asked, refusing to let any form of intimidation show on his face.</p>
<p>“Well the first thought was that of the Dark Lord,” Bleeding Eyes admitted, “but I do not believe he would ever use polyjuice. Not his ‘style’, as they say. I suspect that if he ever came to Gringotts, we would know about it.”</p>
<p>“The Dark Lord is dead,” Sirius pointed out, “he won’t be coming any time soon.”</p>
<p>“Is that so?” Bleeding Eyes asked with amusement in his voice, “at any rate, I considered the possibility of it being one of his followers, someone with a grudge against the Potters or perhaps a simple thief, yet none of those options made sense either. It’s too… bold, too… reckless.”</p>
<p>“I feel like you have a point to be made, Bleeding Eyes,” Sirius said pointedly.</p>
<p>“Yes…” Bleeding Eyes observed him carefully, “I could think of only one who would be both desperate enough, and foolish enough, to attempt to bribe a Gringotts goblin with something so tempting as the Ministry’s downfall in order to gain an audience with me, Sirius Black.”</p>
<p>“I offer nothing but the truth,” Sirius said.</p>
<p>“That remains to be seen,” Bleeding Eyes said knowingly, “as does your fate. Your life hangs in the balance here. If you are wrong-”</p>
<p>“I am very aware of what happens to those who mislead the goblins,” Sirius nodded.</p>
<p>“So tell me then, what is it that brought one of the most wanted men into the heart of the magical community?”</p>
<p>Sirius placed the stone pensieve (itself no easy task for him to have acquired) down onto the desk and withdrew two vials that contained the wispy silver strands of two memories. He poured the first one into the bowl and pushed it towards Bleeding Eyes, who eyed him for a moment before slowly leaning over the bowl and submerging his face down into the deep basin that was now filled with a strange, ethereal substance made from the silver, shimmering strands of a memory.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>“Hagrid,” Sirius said in a trembling voice, “she… she has no-one else… I’m her godfather… I promised them I would look after her…”</p>
<p>“You gotta trust Dumbledore,” Hagrid said softly, “he knows what to do with her. What do you know about lookin’ after a kid? Think about what’s best for her.”</p>
<p>Sirius laughed at that; Hagrid did have a point there. He turned the small girl he was holding around in his hands to look at her for a moment, his eyes filled with compassionate love for the now orphaned child of his best friend.</p>
<p>“I’ll see you soon kiddo,” he said with a teary laugh, “I just gotta do something important first and then I’ll be back. Promise.”</p>
<p>He reluctantly handed her over to the large man, who wrapped her in a rather fluffy blanket. He watched the exhausted and confused girl begin to immediately fall asleep at the warmth and comfort for a moment, before he sniffed and turned to leave.</p>
<p>“Oh, Sirius?” Hagrid called out, “you don’t want your bike back? You might need it.”</p>
<p>“You keep it,” Sirius said with a shake of his head, “without them, well… I don’t think I’ll be riding it much anymore. It won’t feel the same.”</p>
<p>He met Hagrid’s sad eyes for a moment before walking out to the edge of the property and turning on the spot, vanishing from view.</p>
<p>He reappeared on a quiet street in the suburbs of London and looked around briefly before suddenly spinning on the spot and shifting down into his animagus form of a large black dog. Sniffing the air intently, he began to run; sniffing here and there as he went. He knew Peter’s smell, and all it would take was one tiny whiff to track the man.</p>
<p>Besides, he had a feeling already that he knew where Peter might be.</p>
<p>The scene shifted and Sirius was casually stepping through the front door of a small muggle bakery, <br/>approaching a customer who was leaning on the front counter, finishing off a sugary looking donut as he chatted with the baker.</p>
<p>“Wormtail,” Sirius growled in Peter’s ear, “you didn’t run.”</p>
<p>“Why would I run, Sirius?” Peter asked quietly, turning around to face him.</p>
<p>“You know what you did. Don’t deny it. You also knew I would track you to the ends of the earth,” Sirius sneered, “so you didn’t run and you came here instead. What’s the play? You plan to beg me for your life, is that it? Appeal to my ‘better nature’ for the sake of our old friendship?”</p>
<p>“Are you going to do this right here, Sirius? In front of him?”</p>
<p>Peter indicated with his head towards the muggle baker who was watching them both with growing concern.</p>
<p>Sirius growled in annoyance, “get outside. Now.”</p>
<p>He escorted Peter outside into the dark, where a handful of streetlights provided a dim glow to the area. He roughly shoved Peter out of view of the muggle and up against the wall, while pointing his wand directly at Peter’s heart.</p>
<p>“Why did you do it?” Sirius couldn’t help but ask with sorrow in his voice, “was it… because of the pranks and the jokes? Was it just fear and cowardice? Why? We loved you like a brother, Pete. They loved you.”</p>
<p>Peter openly laughed at his questions with no sign of fear or concern for Sirius’ wand that was pointed at him.</p>
<p>“Do you think me so petty, Padfoot?” Peter asked, “do you think I would betray them for such mundane reasons?”</p>
<p>“THEN WHY!?”</p>
<p>“To do what you were never brave enough to do!” Peter spat angrily as he ripped the sleeve off his left arm, revealing the black, iconic magical brand of the ‘Dark Mark’ on his inner forearm. The terrifying image of the human skull with a serpent’s tongue that inspired fear upon all who witnessed it, almost glowed in the dark as the black ‘ink’ stood out in stark contrast to Peter’s pale skin. What the ink was, no-one really knew; some theorised that it was the very blood of the owner, since their hearts must have turned black to join Voldemort’s inner circle.</p>
<p>“You… you joined his inner circle…? You serve him…?”</p>
<p>“No, Padfoot,” Peter said bitterly, “I serve us. I serve all of us! You don’t understand the power that he wields, not truly. He can change this world. He WILL change this world, and upon its rightful throne will sit the witches and the wizards of this world, as is our place!”</p>
<p>“But, Pete,” Sirius said with confusion, “we used to run around in the muggle world all the time! You know better than anyone that they are no different than us!”</p>
<p>“No, that’s what you and James believed,” Peter spat, “and Remus too. Did you ever stop to think what I cared about? No, I was just the tag along, what would I know. Muggles might be people like us, but their rightful place is still below us. We have been blessed with the power of magic; there’s a reason we live longer and become smarter and stronger; we were meant to rule! With the Dark Lord at the helm, we will no longer need to hide away in the corners of the world, denying what we are!”</p>
<p>“You’re delusional!” Sirius exclaimed, “you have lost your mind if you think he had any intention of sharing power with anyone!”</p>
<p>“He has a plan, Padfoot,” Peter said seriously, “he will see it done. It’s not too late, you can join us!”</p>
<p>Sirius laughed with mirth in his voice.</p>
<p>“Your master is dead,” he spat with venom, “and his plans along with him. Good riddance.”</p>
<p>Peter looked down to the magical brand on his arm which was still a solid, unyielding black, even though it was not moving along his skin as it usually did.</p>
<p>“He is not dead,” Peter said curiously, “yet, you clearly believe he is.”</p>
<p>“I saw his body with my own two eyes,” Sirius scoffed, “he is dead.”</p>
<p>“Then he was right,” Peter said with widening eyes, “he was actually right. He has ascended!”</p>
<p>“What are you talking about?”</p>
<p>“He told me that he was beyond death,” Peter said excitedly, “and you say he is dead, but he isn’t. I feel his presence, this mark ties me to him! He is alive! He is alive and everything will go ahead as planned!”</p>
<p>“He is dead, and you’re just as insane as he was,” Sirius said with bitter disappointment as he raised his wand.</p>
<p>“Wait!” Peter said suddenly, “this is important! We can be the ones to find him again, Sirius! We would be forever in his favour! Think about it, we-”</p>
<p>“I can’t believe I was so wrong,” Sirius said sadly, causing Peter to fall silent at his words.</p>
<p>“You didn’t betray me or Remus. You didn’t even betray Lily and James.”</p>
<p>Peter stared at him blankly.</p>
<p>“You betrayed yourself. AVADA KE-”</p>
<p>“Stupefy!”</p>
<p>Sirius’ killing curse was interrupted as a stunner suddenly came flying towards him from behind. He only barely managed to dodge the surprise spell by throwing himself to the side and rolling painfully onto the concrete gutter. Peter casually stepped to the side of the spell and watched on as Sirius scrambled to his feet, raising his wand towards his assailants; six of them, all wearing black hoods that hid their faces.</p>
<p>“Who are you?” He shouted, but got no response other than the pointed ends of six raised wands.</p>
<p>“Stupefy!”</p>
<p>Sirius seethed with rage as he battled his attackers and attempted to deflect and parry their oncoming spells. Unfortunately, they were all moving with incredible finesse and experience, flicking a variety of incapacitating spells in his direction. Sirius was an excellent duelist, yet even he couldn’t take on these apparent veterans by himself and the use of non-lethal spells concerned him far more than if they had of been trying to kill him.</p>
<p>He decided to make a hasty retreat, backing up as he rapidly deflected the oncoming barrage.</p>
<p>“This isn’t over, Peter!” He shouted, “I made a promise! We all did!”</p>
<p>Peter simply gave him a sad look as two of the hooded combatants stopped firing off spells and backed away, lowering their hoods.</p>
<p>The last thing that Sirius saw before he apparated away was the smug looking face of Lucius Malfoy as he placed a comforting hand on Peter’s shoulder, and the calculating gaze of Narcissa Malfoy as she appraised Sirius from afar. He met her sharp blue eyes for a brief moment as he twisted away into nothingness, and the memory faded from view.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>Bleeding Eyes withdrew his face from the bowl with an intense expression as he tried to put all of the pieces together from what he had just seen.</p>
<p>“That’s a very different set of events than what I have been told,” Bleeding Eyes said slowly, “I have been told that you murdered Peter in broad daylight and killed a dozen or so muggles at the same time. There were eye-witness accounts and everything.”</p>
<p>“Before long, that was the official story that was being pumped through the Daily Telegraph,” Sirius scoffed, “supported by none other than the auror’s office itself. I was confused at the time, but later I found out that the Malfoys spent a ridiculous amount of money bribing people left and right, pulling in all the favours that they could. They went to insane lengths to clear Peter’s involvement and make him disappear from view, while being a ‘hero’ to the public.”</p>
<p>“Why would they do that?” Bleeding Eyes asked curiously.</p>
<p>“That’s the thousand galleon question isn’t it? But it only gets stranger…”</p>
<p>Sirius poured the next memory into the basin and Bleeding Eyes gave him one final look before lowering his face once again.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>“Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?”</p>
<p>Sirius woofed and leapt up at the young boy who was coddling him at the park. It was slightly humiliating, but by this point, he was very used to being a dog and it was really the easiest way to get food, after all.</p>
<p>As he wolfed down the treats that the boy had given to him, something caught his very sensitive ears from quite far away.</p>
<p>“-muggles of course, like after that mess with Black-”</p>
<p>He quickly turned his head in the direction of the voice and found it; two wizards (unmistakable due to their horrendously poor excuses for muggle disguises) were walking along the far side of the park, chatting to each other.</p>
<p>“Hey, come back-”</p>
<p>Sirius took off a run, bounding away across the park and leaving both the treats and the disappointed boy behind. He listened in to their conversation as he got closer, and carefully followed them from a safe distance as they walked in the direction of what could only be the Ministry of Magic’s staff entrance.</p>
<p>“Scrimgeour has been breathing down our necks,” one of the wizards was saying with a shake of his head, “trying to make sure we keep pushing this story, which leaves no doubt in my mind that it’s bullshit; thirteen muggles dead by Black’s hand and a full tactical unit sent out, yet no-one in the department can say they were part of it? There’s no log of the deployment? No invoices, tax receipts, nothing? Not a single auror I’ve interviewed knows anything about-”</p>
<p>“Shut up, you idiot! Do you want to get us both fired?” the second wizard said frantically as he looked around in a panic, though he only saw a stray dog in the distance, “I like my job, thanks, and I’d like to keep it.”</p>
<p>“We’re journalists,” the first wizard said with a frown, “or at least, we’re meant to be. These day’s we’re just the D.M.L.E’s mouthpiece. Can’t even look my own wife in the eye anymore.”</p>
<p>“I can,” the second wizard huffed, “you keep pushing this and you’ll find yourself out on the street. See if you can look her in the eye then.”</p>
<p>“The real thing that gets to me,” the first wizard continued, ignoring the complaints, “is IF Black didn’t kill them muggles… then just who the hell did? I saw the photographs of the bodies, those deaths were real…”</p>
<p>“You’re crossing a line there,” the second wizard said with finality, “and I’m not talking about this anymore. It was Black, and that’s that.”</p>
<p>The two said nothing more as they continued on, leaving a very curious dog standing behind them in their wake.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>Bleeding Eyes returned his face from the bowl once again, staring intently at Sirius.</p>
<p>“So,” he began slowly, “you are saying that-”</p>
<p>“Lucius tried to capture me using Peter as bait,” Sirius said, “though I don’t know why. But, he failed, so instead, he bribed or coerced Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Aurors Office at the time, to write up a bogus report and push it through the Daily Prophet a day later after thirteen muggles mysteriously turned up dead. All it took was one word of blame and the public turned their wands on me at every corner. No-one outside the Ministry ever questioned it, and those that did found themselves without a job real fast. People forgot about it pretty quick after Voldemort’s defeat was made public, and I had no way to come forward and have a legitimate trial without being killed on sight.”</p>
<p>“Wait,” Bleeding Eyes said with a frown, “you’re saying that the Ministry covered up the deaths of those muggles and pinned them on you?”</p>
<p>“This is where I’m confused,” Sirius admitted, “I don’t know whether those muggles were killed purely to frame me, or whether those muggles were killed for something else and I was a convenient scapegoat.”</p>
<p>“Either way that would have to mean that-”</p>
<p>Realisation washed over Bleeding Eyes and he stared at Sirius intently.</p>
<p>“-it would mean that the Ministry was likely the one responsible for the murder, and cover up, of those thirteen muggles. Or at least, someone within it.”</p>
<p>“Exactly.”</p>
<p>“That’s what you want to take to the Gringotts board,” he realised, “that’s your bargaining chip.”</p>
<p>“That’s my plan.”</p>
<p>“Why did they do all of this, though?” Bleeding Eyes asked curiously, “they went to a lot of effort to pin you with it. Why?”</p>
<p>“To protect Peter,” Sirius said with a frown, “but that’s what I don’t understand; why was he so important? Even after Voldemort was dead, they still protected him. Lucius, of all people protected him. He didn’t even like him!”</p>
<p>“Hm…” Bleeding Eyes sat back and considered the situation as if he were looking at a chess board, “so Peter is strategically important. Why? Not because of what he can do, he is not known to be special or gifted. Not because of who he is, he is no-one, he has no vaults, no gold…”</p>
<p>Bleeding Eyes thought deeply for a moment longer before coming to his conclusion.</p>
<p>“... he must have something. Something important.”</p>
<p>Sirius nodded, “I did think about that. He might have something that was important enough for Voldemort to give Lucius orders to protect him before he died. Something important enough that Lucius would even follow the orders after Voldemort’s death.”</p>
<p>“I wonder about that,” Bleeding Eyes said thoughtfully, “the Dark Lord did not need other people to protect things for him. He was adept enough to create impenetrable security on any object if he so desired.”</p>
<p>Sirius nodded in agreement, it made sense.</p>
<p>“Peter must have been important to him in some other way,” Bleeding Eyes said with narrowed eyes, “he must have been important to Voldemort’s plans in some manner.”</p>
<p>“It’s true that Peter said something about- he said something about a plan, didn’t he? Something about Voldemort being beyond death and that his plan will go ahead?”</p>
<p>The two met eyes over the table as the realisation dawned on both of them.</p>
<p>“If he’s not actually dead-”</p>
<p>“-then he’ll come back and finish what he started.”</p>
<p>“Tell me, Sirius,” Bleeding Eyes asked, “why haven’t you come to us sooner?”</p>
<p>“I might trust you,” Sirius said, “but I don’t trust Gringotts. You know better than me; if you have no gold, you are nothing to the board.”</p>
<p>“That is certainly true.”</p>
<p>“If I go to the board with nothing more than a few memories and a vague plan, then I would be worthless.”</p>
<p>“And you are saying that you have more to offer than this?”</p>
<p>“I don’t,” Sirius admitted.</p>
<p>“But?”</p>
<p>“... she does.”</p>
<p>Bleeding Eyes appraised Sirius with a calculating look.</p>
<p>“I know that my goddaughter is starting school this year,” Sirius said knowingly, “the heiress to the Potter wealth and the one who lost the most out of anyone because of Peter. I can’t do this without her resources, and I am putting all my faith in the hope that she will be willing to help find her parents’ traitor and bring the corrupt Ministry to justice, with the Potter gold if required. I was unable to find her in the years that I spent looking, however now is the only time that I ‘know’ for a fact she is at Hogwarts. It’s my only shot.”</p>
<p>Bleeding Eyes sat back and thought deeply about the situation.</p>
<p>“If Gringotts launches a case against the Ministry on your behalf,” he considered, “and it is successful, there’s a good chance that people will pull their assets from the Ministry, maybe even sell at extraordinarily low prices.”</p>
<p>“So?” Sirius asked.</p>
<p>“So…” Bleeding Eyes said slowly, with his eyes starting to light up, “that means that Gringotts may be able to get their hands on a lot of assets that we’ve been trying to obtain for hundreds of years. It’s no secret that Gringotts wants control of the alleys, but the Ministry blocks any and all of our attempts to purchase any land or businesses, they always have. We are not thieves or pillagers; we will not take anything by force, but, if young Skyla was able to strike a deal with Gringotts, she could purchase those suddenly available assets and hand them to Gringotts, in return for their aid in clearing your name and finding Peter… perhaps even work out a tidy ‘finder’s fee’ for all involved…”</p>
<p>Sirius waited as Bleeding Eyes continued to calculate and consider.</p>
<p>“Of course, this all relies on you having the backing of your goddaughter,” he pointed out, “you don’t know her.”</p>
<p>“You’re right, I don’t,” Sirius agreed, “but I’m going to wager that she’s been in here, and that you do. What do you think she would do?”</p>
<p>Bleeding Eyes smiled as he remembered the visits that Skyla had made to the bank.</p>
<p>“She looked into a vault of endless gold,” he said with a toothy smile, “and she wasn’t phased. Happy to give it all away. Yet she took one look at a piece of muggle rubbish that belonged to her mother and she cried her eyes out.”</p>
<p>Sirius stared at Bleeding Eyes for a moment, his heart breaking slightly at the mental image of young Skyla crying over her mother’s crazy experiments.</p>
<p>Bleeding Eyes analyised Sirius for a moment longer, before reaching down and pulling out a piece of parchment from the drawer of the desk.</p>
<p>“What is that for?” Sirius asked.</p>
<p>“I’m writing a letter,” he said.</p>
<p>“To?”</p>
<p>“Skyla.”</p>
<p>“You think I didn’t try sending a letter to Hogwarts?” Sirius scoffed, “someone is blocking her mail.”</p>
<p>“Oh, she’ll get this one,” Bleeding Eyes said mischievously, as he finished writing the short letter and stood up, “you don’t mind waiting here, do you? I need to send this. You can think about how  you’re going to explain all of this to her.”</p>
<p>Sirius paused and stared at him. Bleeding Eyes simply looked rather amused.</p>
<p>“You didn’t think about how you were going to convince an eleven year old that you’re not actually a mass murderer despite what the papers say, you didn’t betray her parents, and that you need to use an extremely large amount of her gold and resources to attempt to bring down a corrupt Ministry? I have a feeling that she might be a little more emotional about all of that than a goblin like myself is.”</p>
<p>Sirius stared down at the desk as he thought about it.</p>
<p>“I guess I’ll leave you to it,” Bleeding Eyes smirked as he departed.</p>
<p>“Ah shit,” Sirius said to himself, “he’s right. How the hell am I going to explain all of this? Hi Skyla, I’m your godfather, a notorious mass murderer. By the way; wanna bring down the Ministry together? It will only cost all the gold in your vault.”</p>
<p>He laughed at himself. It sounded ridiculous. He wondered whether Skyla would simply laugh him out of the bank entirely. </p>
<p>Well, at least he knew that wouldn’t happen; if Skyla decided against helping, Sirius wouldn’t even make it to the door before the goblins had his head on a pike to trade with the Ministry for a political favour.</p>
<p>If he was lucky.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>Skyla was sitting in her Transfiguration class that was just about to begin, when she reached down into her bag to pull out her textbook and her fingers closed around something rather unexpected.</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>She withdrew her hand to find that she was holding a single piece of parchment that she did not remember putting into her bag all. She looked at it curiously and saw a handful of words on it that were most certainly not her own handwriting; it was far too neat.</p>
<p>“Skyla,</p>
<p>Matter of life and death. Cannot stress the importance enough. Come to the bank immediately. Tell no-one.</p>
<p>Bleeding Eyes.”</p>
<p>“What do you have there?” Neville asked curiously.</p>
<p>“N-Nothing,” she said quickly as she closed the letter and put it back in her bag, with her mind racing. What a bizarre letter; how did it even get in her bag? She supposed that Bleeding Eyes must have put some kind of emergency spell on it that allowed him to place items within it. Skyla didn’t know much about magic yet, but even she knew that was no amateur spell; yet he hadn’t charged her for it. This had to be just as important as he claimed, he wouldn’t do it otherwise.</p>
<p>… it looked like she was going back to London a lot sooner than she had expected.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Buried Treasures</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skyla sat alone within the girls’ dormitory while the rest of Gryffindor House was enjoying their dinner, having separated from Hermione and Neville with the age-old excuse of not feeling hungry. She knew she needed some time to think and she was lost in her thoughts as she sat on the edge of her bed and stared intently at the floor, as if the answers to her questions would suddenly appear as words upon the old and faded carpet.</p><p>What could Bleeding Eyes want? How was she going to get back there to find out?</p><p>She knew that Bleeding Eyes wouldn’t use the phrase ‘life and death’ lightly (no goblin joked about such things), so she knew that whatever the issue was, had to be time critical. As she pondered however, she couldn’t see an easy solution that would allow her to get back to the bank quickly and quietly. She had her teleport of course, or ‘apparation’ as she had since found out it was called, yet she was rather reluctant to try it again after she had done some reading in the library about the subject. It had quickly become apparent to Skyla that she had been doing something rather risky the entire time that she had been using it, and she had been rather lucky to not have had an accident so far; it was possible for one to ‘splinch’ themselves and end up missing a leg, an arm, or even killing themselves if the apparation went poorly. She hadn’t had any issues with her attempts so far, but they had all been short-ranged jumps and she had a suspicion that attempting to travel the kind of distance that she would need to without proper technique and training could result in disaster if she were to try it. If she managed to splinch herself with no-one around, that could be the end of her since she had no idea how one would even going about fixing a missing arm or leg. Was it even possible? She imagined that it would be with magic, but she wouldn’t have the faintest clue about where to start with something like that.</p><p>“Skyla? Can I come in?”</p><p>Skyla’s thoughts were interrupted as Hermione’s voice called out from the other side of the door.</p><p>“Of course, it’s your room too,” Skyla said noncommittally with a shrug, even though Hermione couldn’t see, “I thought you were down at dinner?”</p><p>“I wanted to check on you,” Hermione admitted as she stepped inside and moved over towards Skyla’s bed, sitting down beside her, “I know that something is bothering you. It has been all day.”</p><p>“Am I that obvious?” Skyla asked.</p><p>“Well…”</p><p>“I can’t really talk about it,” Skyla sighed, “besides even if I told you, I bet you’d probably tell me not to do it anyway.”</p><p>“If you think I would tell you not to do it, then maybe you shouldn’t do it?”</p><p>Skyla laughed at that, “probably.”</p><p>“But… it sounds like you’ve already decided to do whatever you’re thinking of, so at least let me help.”</p><p>Skyla bit her lip hesitantly. Bleeding Eyes had specifically told her to come alone, yet at this point she didn’t even know how she was going to get back to the bank. She would probably need help to make it happen, or at least advice. She weighed up her options for a moment, before deciding that the urgency of the letter likely outweighed the need to keep the information private.</p><p>“Well… I need to return to London. Immediately.”</p><p>Hermione looked at her suspiciously.</p><p>“Is this about Sirius Black?”</p><p>Skyla shook her head, “no, actually it’s to do with the bank. I have to go in for something important, but I don’t know what. I just know that it’s urgent; ‘life or death’ urgent, apparently.”</p><p>“Life or death?” Hermione asked, “that’s… strange, isn’t it? Oddly intense wording for a bank.”</p><p>“This wasn’t exactly an official summoning,” Skyla said hesitantly, “my account manager contacted me in secret. I guess he wanted to keep this off-record for some reason.”</p><p>“Odd. So you need to come up with a way to get to the bank?”</p><p>“Yeah, without telling anyone where I am going or why.”</p><p>“I don’t know if that is even possible,” Hermione mused, “you’d have to at least tell a teacher, other-wise they’d probably notice you are missing. Maybe you could say it was an emergency thing?”</p><p>“What kind of emergency would allow me to leave school right now?” Skyla asked skeptically.</p><p>“Well, people often leave for family emergencies.”</p><p>“That doesn’t exactly help me.”</p><p>“... right.”</p><p>Hermione furrowed her brow as she thought.</p><p>“Some kind of… theft or something with your accounts?” Hermione suggested, “that’s pretty important.”</p><p>“I mean, I’m kind of worried that’s what it might actually be,” Skyla said, “but I don’t think Bleeding Eyes would have contacted me the way that he did for that. I don’t think I should mention the bank; if he wanted them involved he could have sent an official summons, right?”</p><p>“Bleeding… Eyes…?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s his name,” Skyla said offhandedly.</p><p>“That’s… morbid. I thought goblins had names like arghak and krahg and such,” Hermione said with a wrinkled nose.</p><p>“That’s what they call ‘face names’, for business with humans. Their actual names are earned through deeds; it’s quite interesting, honestly. I’d love to learn more about it at some point.”</p><p>“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Hermione admitted, “and I’ve read our history book twice.”</p><p>“I don’t think it’s very public knowledge,” Skyla said, “or maybe witches or wizards just don’t want to know about it. But anyway, discussing goblin culture isn’t going to get me any closer to the bank.”</p><p>“Right. What if…”</p><p>Skyla raised an eyebrow towards Hermione, who hesitated for a moment before continuing.</p><p>“What if you got Professor Lupin to cover for you? Just explain that it’s not about Black. He certainly likes you.”</p><p>Skyla laughed, “and you think he’ll believe that I want to go back to London for any other reason than to find Sirius? He won’t buy it. I don’t think any teacher will cover for me with something like this; there’s no teacher that would be gullible enough to buy some made up excuse as to why I need to leave the castl-what? What is it?</p><p>Hermione was staring thoughtfully at Skyla.</p><p>“You’re right about that, no ‘teacher’ will…”</p><p>“What are you thinking?” Skyla asked, but Hermione just smiled at her mischievously in response.</p><p>***************</p><p>“Girls’… menstrual potions?” Hagrid asked in confusion, “from Diagon Alley?”</p><p>“Yes, there’s a shop there that carries a range of extremely high quality potions specifically for women,” Hermione explained, while she patted Skyla on the back gently in support the following morning. Skyla was sitting on Hagrid’s lounge, looking rather awkward and uncomfortable.</p><p>“But, isn’t that what Madam Pomfrey-”</p><p>“We’ve spoken to her already,” Hermione lied, far more convincingly than Skyla would have expected from her, “she can brew some but they won’t be the best and they wouldn’t last as long, not like these ones, and given Skyla’s… history of poor health, she needs the higher doses. I think she deserves the best healthcare she can get, don’t you?”</p><p>“Well… I-of course she does, she deserves the best of everything,” Hagrid fumbled awkwardly, “but why come to me? Isn’t this kind of thing best taken up with Professor McGonagall…? Or even Professor Dumbledore? I don’t… I don’t really know much about… that sort of thing…”</p><p>“I trust you more than them,” Skyla said quietly, “I don’t… I don’t want everyone to know what’s going on… it’s a bit embarrassing, you know?”</p><p>It wasn’t exactly a lie; she did trust Hagrid more than Dumbledore or the other staff and it was admittedly embarrassing to discuss with him; she herself had to have everything explained to her by Hermione the previous night in preparation, who had already had ‘the talk’ from her own parents. </p><p>That had certainly been an evening of conversation that Skyla would rather forget ever happened, despite how insightful Hermione had been in preparing her for what her body was likely to undergo very soon.</p><p>“Well I’d have to get permission from Professor Dumbledore before taking you anywhere,” Hagrid said with a frown, “I don’t think he’d like you goin’ off on your own like tha-”</p><p>“We can’t tell Professor Dumbledore,” Skyla said with a shake of her head, “I don’t want him to know about all of this. Besides, I won’t be on my own,” she pointed out, “I’ll have you there. If anyone is going to keep me safe it’s you, right?”</p><p>“Take a killin’ curse for you I would,” Hagrid said proudly.</p><p>“Yeah well, I hope no-one will have to do that again,” Skyla said a little bitterly at the thought, causing Hagrid’s face to fall.</p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry Skyla, I didn’t mean to-”</p><p>She shook her head, giving him a small, sad smile of reassurance.</p><p>“You’ve already done so much for me Hagrid,” Skyla said quietly, “I’m forever grateful and I hate to ask for anything more, but I don’t have anyone else to turn to for this.”</p><p>Hagrid stared at her for a moment with reluctance, before eventually letting out a sigh of defeat.</p><p>“... alright. We’ll go on the weekend, then.”</p><p>Skyla shook her head once again, “we’ll have to go sooner than that. Today.”</p><p>“What about your classes?”</p><p>“Hermione will cover for me,” Skyla explained, “she’ll explain to the professors that I had… personal problems, you know. She can catch me up and we’re pretty well ahead on things at the moment anyway.”</p><p>“I still don’t know about this Skyla,” Hagrid said in a worried voice.</p><p>“You have your bike, don’t you?” Skyla prompted, “it might even be a nice ride.”</p><p>“Aye I do have the bike,” Hagrid nodded, “but Skyla-”</p><p>Skyla simply looked at him with her sad, pleading eyes.</p><p>Fifteen minutes later, Hagrid was rolling down past the gates of Hogwarts with Skyla crouched down in the side car of the motorcycle, hidden from view.</p><p>“Alright if we wanna get this done on time,” Hagrid called out as they bumped up and down along the dirt road that was only ever used by the horseless carriages, “we’re gonna have to use a few… tricks.”</p><p>“Tricks?” Skyla called back.</p><p>“A few… ah, adjustments on the bike. Just promise me you won’t freak out!” Hagrid yelled over the intensifying wind as he pulled his brown goggles down over his eyes, and indicated for Skyla to do the same. She put the far-too large helmet on her head and lowered the attached goggles with curiosity.</p><p>She gasped in shock a moment later when Hagrid shifted his weight and tilted the motorcycle backwards, causing them to start to rise up into the air and take flight, as if they were an aeroplane taking off on a runway. It wasn’t that she was particularly shocked at the flight itself; there was clearly advanced magic at work in the motorcycle and she had been on a broom before (even if at much lower heights) so she was already somewhat acquainted with the idea of flying around. What she hadn’t expected was for Hagrid to press a button and to turn the entire motorcycle, sidecar and all, almost entirely invisible; along with both riders. Skyla looked down with fascination as she stared directly through the floor of the sidecar, down at the treetops of the forest that they were now flying directly over. She had a sudden sense of vertigo, yet surprisingly she didn’t feel fear at the sight; she felt her heart begin race in excitement instead. It was like a wild rush that caused her to suddenly feel more alive than she had felt in years, and despite the harshness of the blasting wind there was something refreshing about being up in the air above it all. It was as though all of her worries had been left behind on the ground and up in the air she was free, like a bird soaring though the sky.</p><p>She raised her own hand up to her face with curiosity and found it rather strange that she could see the shimmering outline of her body, yet the middle was completely see-through. She chuckled slightly as she wondered how Hermione would have reacted to this; she couldn’t imagine Hermione ever getting onto something that flew this high, let alone something she couldn’t even see, and then flying through the sky all the way from Hogwarts to London. An absurd thought.</p><p>“You doin’ alright there, Skyla?” Hagrid called out, “not freakin’ out are ya?”</p><p>“This is incredible!” She replied with excitement.</p><p>He gave a great booming laugh at that and twisted the throttle eagerly, sending them both soaring off at an incredible speed through the sky. </p><p>The only thought that Skyla had as they flew above the unsuspecting landscape was that she wistfully wished she could have done this on a broom. She wondered to herself what that experience might have felt like.</p><p>***************</p><p>“You look comfortable.”</p><p>“Go on, laugh it up. I’ll take a few nights like this over a few dozen years in Azkaban.”</p><p>Sirius stretched and stood up from the cold stone floor of the almost entirely empty vault he had spent the night in. Bleeding Eyes had told him that he had secured a ‘private room’ for Sirius to sleep in while they waited for Skyla to arrive; he neglected to mention however that the ‘room’ was nothing more than an empty vault with a toilet added in.</p><p>“If you’re going to keep me prisoner like this though you could have at least added a bed,” Sirius complained as he stretched his slightly sore back.</p><p>“You aren’t a prisoner,” Bleeding Eyes said with an evil looking grin, “you can leave the vault anytime you like.”</p><p>Sirius scoffed, “and get stabbed or cut up by the first goblin who sees me wandering around the bank, right?”</p><p>“I never said you’d make it to the door,” Bleeding Eyes shrugged, “but you can leave the vault whenever you’d like.”</p><p>Sirius snorted, “I see why they didn’t call you Bleeding Heart.”</p><p>“And what was it they called you again…? ‘Traitor’, ‘Mass Murderer’, ‘Worst Criminal In Magical History Since-”</p><p>“Alright, alright, you made your point,” Sirius waved him off with a sigh.</p><p>“You haven’t spoken to any of the board yet, have you?” he asked with apprehension.</p><p>“No…” Bleeding Eyes admitted slowly, “no I think we should find out what Miss Potter would like to do before rushing into any sort of action. I merely informed the other staff that it turns out you were a very distant relative and that I am keeping you here to investigate your claim further. Or torture you. Either way is above suspicion.”</p><p>“You goblins…” Sirius said with a shake of his head. Bleeding Eyes simply bared his fangs with a grin.</p><p>“I am the Potter account manager and it is part of my position to consider all the angles for both the bank, and for the account,” Bleeding Eyes said intently, “if Miss Potter wishes to side with you, it is my job to ensure that things work out for the benefit of everyone. If she doesn’t…”</p><p>“... you’ll claim the price on my head?”</p><p>“Depends which vault you die in,” Bleeding Eyes grinned, “but this one just happens to be one of mine, as it were. Funny that.”</p><p>Sirius laughed, “you’ve got it all planned out, don’t you?”</p><p>“Well they don’t call me Bleeding Brain either. Here; food. Water. Hygiene. Something to do.”</p><p>Bleeding Eyes handed Sirius a few essentials, along with some newspapers and magazines.</p><p>“Surprisingly generous of you. Thought I was going to have to eat the walls.”</p><p>“I don’t want you to die,” Bleeding Eyes shrugged, “not yet, anyway.”</p><p>Sirius laughed, “kindest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”</p><p>“Miss Potter has received her letter,” Bleeding Eyes continued, “she will no doubt arrive as soon as she is able to, although…”</p><p>“Although?”</p><p>“She is in the middle of term,” he shrugged, “and she is underage by your human standards. So, you may be here for awhile.”</p><p>The goblin chuckled as he left, swinging the vault door closed behind him. Thankfully there was still some light in the vault from the magically burning torches on the walls and, despite the obviously sadistic nature of the goblin, Bleeding Eyes had actually given him what he needed to get by for awhile and hadn’t harmed him at all. It wasn’t exactly homely and felt no better than prison would, but, at least he was safe for the moment and Bleeding Eyes clearly didn’t intend to turn him in. Yet. Besides, he had slept in far worse conditions over the years and if it got too uncomfortable he could always transform into his animagus form to relax for awhile, since it was physically a little easier on the spine.</p><p>Several idle hours passed by and Sirius was slightly surprised when once again, Bleeding Eyes came down to visit and opened the vault up.</p><p>“What? Want your newspaper back?” Sirius joked as the large vault doors swung open, “did my subscription run out? I want a refund if that’s the case-”</p><p>He stopped talking as he realised that it wasn’t Bleeding Eyes who was stepping into the vault. The young girl who entered was a little taller, far more nervous and much more beautiful to his weary eyes.</p><p>“Hello. Bleeding Eyes tells me that you’re… Sirius Black?” the girl asked hesitantly as she stepped inside, while Bleeding Eyes smirked at Sirius from the doorway.</p><p>“I’m Skyla. Skyla Potter.”</p><p>***************</p><p>Sirius gaped in shock; right before his very eyes was the spitting image of Lily Potter. She was naturally shorter due to her younger age, and slightly thinner than Lily had been, yet her face held the same stunning beauty that Lily’s had and her deep, emerald green eyes pierced straight through Sirius’ soul just as her mother’s used to. She had soft, gentle features and a slightly confused, yet determined, expression on her face while she flicked her long, wild black hair back behind her head. Sirius noted with amusement that she had clearly inherited some of James’ traits too, since her hair was rather messy and unwieldy, despite the girl’s best attempts to gather all of the combative strands into a long ponytail, which was held back behind her head with a red hair-tie. She looked to be doing quite well for herself and was apparently putting her parents’ money to good use based on the sleek, black, tailored school robes and black dragonhide boots that she was wearing. Not that he thought her parents would have minded; he had no doubt that James especially would have spoiled the girl rotten himself, given the chance. Sirius thought that James would have been exceptionally proud of his daughter and the way she carried herself; she was clearly wealthy and affluent, yet she looked rather roguish with her slightly skewed collar, her top button undone and an apparent lack of care regarding whether her robes were aligned evenly or not. It suited her and she looked as though she represented both of her parents; the sweetness and beauty of Lily combined with the dashing and wild nature of the scoundrel that was James. </p><p>Sirius could do little more than stare at the girl.</p><p>“Skyla…?”</p><p>Sirius had actually spent some of his free time attempting to prepare himself for the eventual meeting, but he hadn’t expected to meet her quite so soon and he certainly hadn’t expected her to be such an effective, heartbreaking reminder of her parents. She looked quite nervous and shy, yet she seemed to be doing her best to put on an outward appearance of confidence which was rather adorable to Sirius; she truly was Lily and James wrapped up in one beautiful child, right down to the way she seemed to behave. Unfortunately, it meant that Sirius just stood there gaping like a fish for several seconds, letting any of his preformed plans fly straight out the vault door and into the chasms below.</p><p>“I, uh, I have a few questions for you,” Skyla said slowly, when Sirius said nothing further.</p><p>Her words were like a trigger to him and he suddenly realised where he was, feeling very self-conscious for the first time in a long time. He realised that his long, shaggy black hair was matted and unclean, his clothes were utterly filthy and he was sitting slumped against the wall with a newspaper still in hand. Realising his situation, he sprang to his feet and began to brush himself off in a pointless attempt to fix his appearance.</p><p>Skyla simply watched on with what appeared to be slight amusement on her face.</p><p>“I don’t care what you look like, don’t worry,” she said with a shake of her head, “I bet I looked a thousand times worse when Hagrid found me.”</p><p>“Sorry,” Sirius said a little awkwardly, “I didn’t realise you would be coming so soon…”</p><p>“I didn’t expect to be meeting you so soon either,” Skyla admitted, “but Bleeding Eyes sent me a letter telling me that it was a matter of life and death, so I convinced Hagrid to bring me. Well, it was Hermione’s idea actually - that’s my friend -; Hagrid is at the pub and thinks I’m buying a heap of potions and girls’ hygiene stuff. Bleeding Eyes sent a goblin to go and buy that stuff for me, so it doesn’t look suspicious if I don’t have them. He explained to me already that you were down here. Knowing what Hagrid is like at the pub, we’ll have a little time to ourselves, but we shouldn’t push it. I already feel bad for dragging him out here with a lie. Although, not really a lie since that stuff will actually be useful later and if I had of known I would have gotten it earlier, but I suppose it came in handy in the end ‘cause, otherwise, well-”</p><p>She stopped talking and turned slightly red as she realised that she was starting to nervously ramble.</p><p>“Look at you,” Sirius said in awe, “you were just a baby when I saw you last. Now here you are. You look just like Lily…”</p><p>She met his eyes with curiosity and he found that her gaze was quite difficult to hold; she had the same penetrating look that Lily had. Lily had always been able to make Sirius feel guilty about anything and it seemed that unique skill had been passed down to her daughter.</p><p>“So you were my dad’s best friend…”</p><p>Sirius gulped and felt for a moment as though he were being put on trial (which, he supposed he was, since his life did depend on the outcome of this unexpected meeting).</p><p>“I never betrayed your parents,” Sirius said quickly, wanting to immediately address the most important topic to him, “no matter what they say about me, no matter what crimes I may have committed over the years, I never betrayed them. Ever.”</p><p>Skyla considered him for a moment before replying.</p><p>“I know,” she admitted eventually.</p><p>“Really?” </p><p>“Well, Remus told me about the whole ‘Secret Keeper’ thing with Peter. I don’t really think you killed those muggles either, did you?”</p><p>“No I didn’t,” Sirius let out with a rush of relief at her words, “I’ve never harmed a muggle in my life.”</p><p>“I suspected as much,” Skyla nodded, “it just didn’t make sense, from everything that I had heard. No-one ever said you seemed like a bad person and everyone seemed to like you, so it was weird that apparently you of all people went on a mass-murdering spree. They said your family hated muggles ‘cause you were from a fancy magical family, but then you rebelled against them, but then you went and killed more muggles than they ever did? It didn’t make any sense.”</p><p>“You don’t know how glad I am to hear that Skyla,” Sirius let out in a choked up voice, “I don’t care what anyone else thinks of me honestly, but this whole time I thought you must think I am a traitor and a murderer. I should have known you would be smarter than that! You’re the daughter of two of the most brilliant people to ever come through Hogwarts, after all. You are clearly destined to be just as great, if not greater.”</p><p>Skyla smiled slightly at the praise.</p><p>“You said Remus told you about the Secret Keeper,” Sirius added thoughtfully, “so I take it you two are close? How is Remus?”</p><p>Skyla shook her head, “not really. I wouldn’t say I really know him, he’s a teacher at Hogwarts and… well, we had a… intense conversation. But that’s all.”</p><p>Sirius ogled her for a moment.</p><p>“Remus is teaching?”</p><p>“Yeah he’s our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.”</p><p>“Huh. I tried to contact him over the years but I never had any success. I figured he must think I’m guilty.”</p><p>“I… wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Sykla said hesitantly, “he’s a bit… confusing. I don’t think he knows what he thinks. We were actually going to come find you over the winter break, but I guess you found me first. Saves me a lot of trouble,” Skyla added with a slightly nervous laugh.</p><p>“Wait, so you only know Remus from school?” Sirius queried, “I thought he would have been around when you were growing up. ‘Uncle Remus’ or something.”</p><p>“No, he wasn’t,” Skyla said with a frown, “but… that’s a complicated story there.”</p><p>“I’d love to hear it,” Sirius said eagerly, but Skyla held up her hand.</p><p>“Wait,” she said cautiously, “I wanna know what your story is first. There’s a lot that I don’t understand.”</p><p>He sighed, “that’s fair. I bet this is all strange and confusing to you.”</p><p>“Look, I don’t know how much you know about what happened,” he began, “but I guess I’ll start from back then; that… night.”</p><p>“Yes please,” Skyla said as she sat down on the floor across from Sirius. He smiled slightly at her as he retook his spot on the ground against the wall. Skyla was surprisingly well spoken and she seemed incredibly bright; though he shouldn’t have been surprised given that her parents were two of the highest achievers to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts. Given more time, they would have no doubt achieved countless magical breakthroughs were they not cut short by the notorious madman who had ruined everything.</p><p>“You no doubt know that your parents were Voldemort’s biggest opposition back in the war,” he began while Skyla nodded along, “and he certainly had his reasons to want to kill them. What most people don’t know however is that he didn’t target your family home to kill your parents, he targeted your family home to kill you.”</p><p>“Me?” Skyla asked in surprise, “wasn’t I just a baby?”</p><p>“Yes, but the reason he wanted you dead was because of a prophecy. There’s only a handful of people who know what it says and I was not one of them, but I do know that a prophecy was made about you being the downfall of Voldemort, which was why he became so obsessively determined to find and kill you.”</p><p>“So… they’re dead because of me?” Skyla asked.</p><p>“No, they’re dead because they died fighting a great evil,” Sirius corrected, “they died because they loved you and fought to the very end. There’s a big difference, Skyla.”</p><p>She nodded slightly, though she still seemed a little solemn after that.</p><p>“He would have gone after your parents regardless,” Sirius continued, “they were major obstacles to him, prophecy or not. I was there that night; I found your parents and his body. After Peter betrayed us and Voldemort entered your family home, the additional wards were triggered; Dumbledore had set up a few additional wards that would alert us if anyone with a dark mark entered the premises, so that we knew the location had been compromised and everyone had time to run for it.”</p><p>“And did you run away?” Skyla asked.</p><p>“Fuck no,” Sirius said heatedly, before backtracking quickly, “uh. Sorry.”</p><p>Skyla just waved him off with a smile.</p><p>“No, as soon as I knew what was going on I apparated immediately to their house to help in the fight, but I was too late. Your parents were already gone and him along with them. If only the wards were larger, or triggered faster, I might have had more time…”</p><p>Sirius trailed off in anger and frustration at the thought, until Skyla had to prompt him to continue.</p><p>“What happened then?”</p><p>“When I got there, James and Lily were both- well. I found you upstairs and I took you out of the house, but Hagrid showed up. He was on Dumbledore’s orders to take you to a safe place, and I let him take you. I knew you would be better off with him, since I didn’t know shi-uh, the first thing about looking after a child.”</p><p>“Why didn’t Dumbledore himself come get me?” Skyla interrupted to ask.</p><p>“I’ve often wondered that myself,” Sirius mused, “I suppose he had his reasons but, surely if the wards had been triggered on the Potter Cottage he himself would be rushing to their aid? He alone was the only one who could have ever directly fought Voldemort. I can only assume that he knew it was already too late to do anything, and he sent Hagrid instead because he was busy setting up the new safe house for you.”</p><p>Skyla openly laughed at that, which caused Sirius to pause for a moment but she motioned for him to continue.</p><p>“Well, after you were safe with Hagrid, I left to find Peter.”</p><p>His face darkened at the memory. He contemplated simply showing her the memory of the confrontation and the ensuing fight, but he knew that would be far too much for a child to witness. He wasn’t even sure where the pensieve had gotten to; he hoped that Bleeding Eyes didn’t plan on selling it or something. He might like the goblin, but he still wouldn’t put it past him.</p><p>“I found Pete and confronted him that evening, yet he showed no remorse and had already taken the Dark Mark - Voldemort’s mark - and joined his side. It was devastating to hear that all along, our friend had always harboured resentment to muggles and supported Voldemort’s view of superiority. I suppose in many ways that was our own fault; we loved Pete but we did constantly make fun of him and we probably didn’t listen to him as much as we should have. Not that it excuses his actions at all,” Sirius finished with a savage expression on his face, “but… perhaps we would have seen the warning signs earlier if we had of paid more attention to him.”</p><p>“So then you killed him,” Skyla said, but Sirius shook his head.</p><p>“No. I wanted to; I tried to. But he had backup and I was almost captured. Death Eaters were waiting for me; I thought that they would have scattered when news of Voldemort’s death reached them, but I was surprised to see no less than six of them waiting to ambush me. I was forced to run. I guess their loyalty ran deeper than I thought.”</p><p>“I don’t understand,” Skyla said with a frown, “I thought you-”</p><p>“Blew up thirteen muggles in broad daylight, along with Peter?” Sirius said knowingly, while Skyla nodded.</p><p>“That was the public story, thanks to one of the Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy-”</p><p>“Malfoy?” Skyla interjected questioningly, “I go to school with a Draco Malfoy.”</p><p>“His off-spring, no doubt,” Sirius scoffed, “Lucius Malfoy was, and still is, highly influential within the Ministry due to his wealth and clever use of blackmail. He pulled all the strings that he could after they failed to capture me to get me put up on posters and hounded by the Daily Prophet as a mass murderer. I never even had a chance to defend myself; once it was decided by public opinion that I was guilty, and even the Auror’s Office came out with some rubbish supporting it, the Ministry was more than happy to hand out a ‘kill on sight’ order. There’s still a tidy amount of gold waiting for whoever brings them my head,” he finished with a dry laugh, “probably increasing with time.”</p><p>“So then you spent the last ten years on the run?”</p><p>“Indeed. I tried to contact Dumbledore for aid but I don’t know if any of my attempts reached, since I never heard back. I tried to contact Remus as I mentioned but again, all efforts there failed. I tried to contact you after a few years had gone by and I thought you might be old enough to understand, but I had no luck there; you had disappeared from the earth.”</p><p>“You were closer than you think,” Skyla said with a smile, “we actually met. I’m pretty sure anyway.”</p><p>“We did?”</p><p>“You might remember a bakery,” Skyla said with fond memories, “a muggle bakery where a girl was also breaking in at the same time. You were in your dog form and she passed you some bread and had a chat? Do you remember?”</p><p>Sirius paused and dug deep into his memories. His memories were slightly hazy from when he was in his animagus form and he didn’t have quite as good a recollection as his human form, but he did remember something there; he had gone back to that bakery several times to, pointlessly, look for clues as to where Peter may have gone from there…</p><p>“... I think I do remember that,” he eventually said with dawning realisation, “that was you!?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Skyla laughed, “that was me.”</p><p>“What were you doing breaking into a muggle bakery?” Sirius asked with surprise, “and THAT bakery, of all places? I would never have guessed you were still in the country, let alone right under my nose the entire time…”</p><p>“I’ll explain in a moment,” Skyla said, “but one more thing… you were on the run for years. Why are you here now? What made you come here? Why did you go to Bleeding Eyes? Why not go sooner?”</p><p>“That’s more than one thing,” Sirius pointed out with a smile, while Skyla let out a ‘tut’ of impatience.</p><p>“I had thought about seeking refuge with the bank in the past,” Sirius admitted, “but I knew that they would turn me over to the Ministry in a heartbeat. I needed to have something to offer them; goblins don’t do things for free or out of the kindness of their bleeding hearts.”</p><p>He gave Bleeding Eyes, who was hovering in the background, a pointed look and got a toothy, evil-looking grin in return.</p><p>“And you found something to give them?”</p><p>“In a manner of speaking. I knew that it would be your eleventh birthday this year,” Sirius explained, “and I knew that there was no way Dumbledore would have you go to a school other than Hogwarts, even if you were living overseas. He’s too proud of his school. It was the one time that I knew you would be in Britain for sure, so I gathered what I needed to brew some Polyjuice potion - that’s a potion that changes your image to look like another person - stole a pensieve and brought in two very useful memories to show Bleeding Eyes. It wasn’t easy getting what I needed, that’s for sure.”</p><p>“Pensieve?”</p><p>“It’s a bowl or basin that is enchanted by runic magic to be able to witness memories,” Sirius explained, “that way you can re-watch events and sometimes you see something you missed at the time, or you can share your experiences with others.”</p><p>“That’s… that’s pretty amazing. Who did you steal it off?”</p><p>“Well… you, actually,” Sirius said sheepishly. Skyla raised both her eyebrows in response.</p><p>“Your parents had a pensieve,” Sirius explained, “and it was still at the ruins of the Pottage Cottage, buried under some old furniture. It wasn’t easy to get back there undetected, let me tell you. Place was covered in wards and traps specifically meant to catch me if I ever returned. I wasn’t even sure if it would still be there but only those who know what to look for would ever find it; it looks like a completely ordinary bowl otherwise, I imagine that’s why it was left alone. I hope you aren’t angry about me taking it-”</p><p>Skyla shook her head.</p><p>“I didn’t even know the house would still be there,” she admitted, “I haven’t really thought about that. I kind of just assumed it would have been sold or cleared away or something.”</p><p>“Well you own it,” Sirius pointed out, “you must do. Although from the look of things they’ve turned it into some kind of tourist spot now. There’s signs and memorials and all sorts out the front, and there was even people selling ‘merchandise’, though I don’t know what the fu-heck they would even be selling.”</p><p>Skyla frowned; she didn’t really know what to make of that.</p><p>“Anyway,” Sirius continued, “I came in here under disguise and demanded to see Bleeding Eyes, who kept me locked in here until you arrived.”</p><p>“He kept you prisoner?” Skyla asked in surprise, looking around at the goblin who showed absolutely no remorse in the slightest as he looked back blankly.</p><p>“He is neither friend nor foe at this point,” Bleeding Eyes pointed out, “not until you deem otherwise. And besides, I didn’t ‘lock’ him in. He could leave at anytime.”</p><p>Sirius laughed, “true enough, I suppose. Still, this has been about the nicest treatment any wanted criminal has ever received from a goblin; I even still have my head.”</p><p>“For the moment,” Bleeding Eyes added with a humourous glint in his eye.</p><p>“So, that’s about the gist of it,” Sirius finished, “I’m here to hopefully redeem myself, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Your turn now, what’s your story? Where have you been?”</p><p>“Not much to tell, honestly. I used to live in a muggle orphanage in London,” Skyla explained nonchalantly, “where I probably would have starved to death but I accidentally ‘apparated’, as it turns out, to the bakery to steal food. Had a few… incidents with the other children taking my food but the matron didn’t care. She thought I was evil. After an incident with a boy there I was moved away from the others and spent most of the following years living in a cellar underground. Fought with mice over scraps of food. Washed myself in a sink. Peed in a drain. Got busted out by Hagrid. Told me I was a witch. Stayed at The Leaky Cauldron for awhile. Went to school. Here I am.”</p><p>Skyla finished with a shrug, and waited for Sirius to reply, who seemed to be lost in thought at her words.</p><p>“So… you weren’t-”</p><p>“With Dumbledore?” Skyla interrupted with a roll of her eyes, “no. Never met him before I got to school, despite what everyone seems to think.”</p><p>“So let me get this straight,” Sirius began thoughtfully, “after I handed you over to Hagrid, who I imagine would have taken you straight to Dumbledore, being as loyal as he was, Dumbledore then dumped you at a muggle orphanage? Which also sounds like it was hell to live at?”</p><p>“Well… Sarah was nice while she was there,” Skyla offered, “so there was that. And I didn’t die, so… there’s also that…”</p><p>“But you said you almost starved; you had to steal food and that you were being bullied there?”</p><p>“Well… yes.”</p><p>“And you were kept in a cellar? Like… an actual cellar? Underground?”</p><p>“Bars and all.”</p><p>“And you didn’t know you were a witch?”</p><p>“Well I knew I could make strange things happen, but I didn’t know that there were other people like me, no.”</p><p>“So that means you didn’t have access to your money, or anything that your parents left you?”</p><p>Skyla laughed, “I once found a fifty pence coin and I didn’t know what to do with it for weeks.”</p><p>“But you must have known about your parents surely,” Sirius said, confused, “so how did you not know you were a witch?”</p><p>“I didn’t even know my own name for many years,” Skyla admitted, “it wasn’t until I got my Hogwarts letter that I found out I even had one, let alone what my parents’ names were. Everyone just kind of called me ‘the girl’ or… well, a few other things that weren’t as nice.”</p><p>“I… I see…”</p><p>Skyla looked curiously at Sirius, who was staring at the wall in deep thought.</p><p>“Are you… okay?” she asked hesitantly.</p><p>“You know,” he replied slowly, “I might just end up turning into that mass murderer everyone thinks I am.”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“Where THE FUCK has anyone been!?” he exploded suddenly, causing Skyla to recoil back slightly.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Skyla said hesitantly.</p><p>“What was Dumbledore doing this whole time!? Where the fuck was Remus!? Even the Ministry; where was anyone during all of this!? Voldemort was DEAD! You’re being hailed as the saviour of the magical world, people are selling god-knows what with your name on it at the place Lily and James died, and no-one actually gave enough of a fuck to go find out if you were even alive?”</p><p>Sirius jumped to his feet and began to pace in frustration.</p><p>“This whole time I thought you must have been living the high life with Dumbledore!” he exclaimed in anger, “living in a nice penthouse somewhere perhaps, a few house elves, Remus and Hagrid popping by every other weekend to play… if I had known this shit was happening, I would have-”</p><p>“I don’t think anyone knew,” Skyla said quietly, “Remus thought the same as you, he thought Dumbledore had me and was hiding me away somewhere. Dumbledore told him not to seek me out; better for me, he said.”</p><p>“And Remus just listened and obeyed!?” Sirius scoffed, “calls himself a marauder… what kind of marauder happily sits on the sidelines and does what he is told? I mean, I was a wanted criminal with a kill-on-sight on me, what’s his excuse?”</p><p>“I don’t think Remus is… doing very well,” Skyla admitted, “I might have been a little harsh on him when I spoke to him…”</p><p>“Remus is tougher than he might seem,” Sirius said, “don’t let his outer frailness fool you, he just looks like that because of his condition.”</p><p>“He did mention that he had a condition,” Skyla said, “but I don’t know what it is.”</p><p>“Oh? He hasn’t told you about…? Well then it’s not my place to,” Sirius said with a sigh and a shake of his head, “but he better not think that is a good enough excuse for not having even looked in on you… he better watch out, when I see that man…”</p><p>“How, exactly, are you going to see him?” Skyla pointed out, “aren’t you a wanted criminal with a price on your head?”</p><p>“Ah, well about that…”</p><p>Sirius sighed and sat down again, staring intently at Skyla.</p><p>“I need your help.”</p><p>“... okay.”</p><p>Sirius laughed, “wait, let me tell you what this is about first-”</p><p>Skyla just shrugged, “I think I’ve heard what I needed to hear. You didn’t betray my parents, you aren’t a mass murderer and you were really my dad’s best friend, right?”</p><p>“He was my brother,” Sirius said solemnly, “in all but name.”</p><p>“Then I’ll help you with whatever you need,” Skyla said simply. </p><p>Sirius suspected from her open eagerness to aid him and her willingness to believe what he had said that she was perhaps thinking with her emotions a little bit, although he couldn’t exactly blame her for that. If she had grown up without any family around, then it made sense that the poor girl might be rather eager to jump on board with anyone who had known her parents. He supposed that really, if he was being honest with himself, he wasn’t any different; he knew within his heart that he felt such a strong connection with her already simply because she looked like Lily and James. Yet, perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing; they were both rather desperate for someone to call home.</p><p>“I think my parents would have wanted me to help you,” Skyla said quietly, “they trusted you.”</p><p>“Well, I don’t know if they trusted me in the same sense that you are thinking of,” Sirius laughed, “Lily was terrified whenever I held you that I would drop you and if I ever showed up on my flying motorbike she refused to even let you come down from upstairs. The ‘death-trap’ as she called it.”</p><p>“You had a flying motorbike too?” Skyla asked curiously, “Hagrid has one. Are they common?”</p><p>“Well I’ll be...” Sirius laughed, “he’s still got it? They’re definitely not common; my one was the only one of its kind as far as I know; a unique creation of your mother’s.”</p><p>“My mother made it?” She asked in surprise.</p><p>“Yeah but she never intended anyone to actually use it,” Sirius laughed, “I loved that thing though and they let me have it as long as I never took you on it. The look on my father’s face when I rode it down the alley that one time… Ha!”</p><p>“You rode it down the alley?” Skyla asked excitedly, “Hagrid just parks it out the front on the muggle side.”</p><p>“Well, it was just the once,” Sirius admitted, “and it was purely to spite my father, he was a... anyway. The look on their faces when I flew past them; wind knocked my mother over and blew her fancy robes up. That was a sight that NO-ONE needed to see.”</p><p>Skyla laughed as she formed the mental image of a rebellious teenage Sirius roaring down Diagon Alley on a flying muggle motorcycle, poking his tongue out at his family as he flew around in the sky to the shocked outrage of the nearby witches and wizards who wagged a finger at him disapprovingly. </p><p>Her mental image wasn’t too far off what had actually happened; except that Sirius hadn’t been poking his tongue out at them and had shown a far ruder gesture as he had flown past.</p><p>They both paused for a moment as they were each lost in their own thoughts and memories, until eventually, Skyla pulled out a piece of parchment from inside her robes, causing Sirius to look over with curiosity.</p><p>“I think you should read this,” she said quietly, as she hesitantly held out the letter towards him.</p><p>Sirius reached out to take it, yet he paused when his fingers closed around the parchment and Skyla didn’t release it, hesitance plastered all over her face.</p><p>“I’ll give it straight back, undamaged, unaltered,” Sirius said quietly, “you have my word. If there’s one thing I do, it’s keep a promise.”</p><p>She slowly let her fingers loosen and Sirius took the letter, reading it intently. He smiled at a few of the lines and he frowned at a few others, but he eventually finished with rather watery eyes and handed the letter back to Skyla, as promised.</p><p>“Did… did you know that I’m your godfather?” he asked Skyla in a quiet voice.</p><p>“No… what does that mean?”</p><p>“It means that I’m responsible for you,” Sirius explained, “not due to blood or parenting, but by bond; by oath. A godfather, or godparent, is someone that two parents agree to give responsibility to if the worst should happen to them. It has a lot of meaning within magical society as we cherish our bloodlines and our families, and to become a godparent is to become family. To be trusted as a godparent is a great honour; one that I foolishly threw away by handing you over to Dumbledore. I was blinded by my grief, my anger, my pain…”</p><p>He looked at Skyla sadly.</p><p>“... can you forgive me?”</p><p>Skyla stared back with teary eyes that damn near broke his heart and she didn’t reply to his question, but instead asked one of her own.</p><p>“So that means… that we’re family?”</p><p>“We… could be,” Sirius said slowly, “if… if that’s what you want.”</p><p>“If that’s what I want?” Skyla asked incredulously.</p><p>Skyla seemed to battle with herself internally for a moment before she suddenly sprang to her feet and ran over to him, almost knocking him over backwards as she threw herself around him in a tight hug.</p><p>Bleeding Eyes watched the scene with a slight smirk on his face, and met Sirius’ eye over Skyla’s shoulder with a knowing look.</p><p>“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you,” Sirius whispered quietly to Skyla with deep regret as he hugged her tightly and she cried softly into his shoulder.</p><p>“I don’t care,” she said honestly through her gentle sobs, “you’re here now.”</p><p>“That I am,” he said softly as he patted her on the back, “and I’m not going anywhere.”</p><p>“Except for maybe prison,” she pointed out with a mumble his shoulder, causing him to laugh.</p><p>“We’ll see about that,” he said, “I’ve got a few ideas…”</p><p>“And maybe a shower,” she added quietly, getting another laugh out of him.</p><p>“If you so wish, we can discuss our options as to where to go from here,” Bleeding Eyes said to the two, “now that, I assume, you don’t wish to add his head to the pikes below?”</p><p>“No, I’d rather not,” Skyla laughed with a sniffle as she broke away from Sirius.</p><p>“Glad to hear it,” Sirius chuckled, his own eyes still watering slightly.</p><p>“Are there many heads down below?” Skyla couldn’t help but ask.</p><p>“Only a few generations worth,” Bleeding Eyes shrugged, “but there’s always room for more.”</p><p>“Goblins,” Sirius laughed, “you’d be mad to go to war with them.”</p><p>“Some of your kind still wish to,” Bleeding Eyes pointed out.</p><p>“Some of our kind are idiots,” Sirius shrugged.</p><p>“A godfather…” Skyla mused quietly to herself, causing Sirius to smile at her.</p><p>“Your godfather,” he corrected, “and I think it’s about damn time I reminded a few people of that.”</p><p>“What are you going to do?” Skyla asked.</p><p>“There’s a lot to be done,” Sirius admitted, “but before we do anything else, we need to clear my name.”</p><p>“I have come up with a plan with Mr Black,” Bleeding Eyes began to Skyla, “and using your resources we may just be able to pull it off. There is an inherent risk however and much will be left to chance, I hate to admit. In addition, we will have to take great care with what we say and do until the time is right. We will be walking a knife’s edge with this one; all of us.”</p><p>“If this doesn’t work,” Sirius said quietly, “all hell could break loose.”</p><p>“I don’t care,” Skyla said simply, surprising them both, “if all hell breaks loose, well… they always did call me ‘The Devil’. Maybe it’s time I proved them right.”</p><p>Sirius barked with laughter, putting his arm around Skyla’s shoulder.</p><p>“A true marauder already,” he said fondly, wiping a tear from his eye while Skyla smiled at the praise.</p><p>“In that case, I’ll begin the preparations. We’ll have a lot to discuss going forward. Keep an eye on your bag,” he added to Skyla, “I’ll contact you through that.”</p><p>“I may not be able to get back here for awhile,” Skyla pointed out sadly, “I don’t think Hagrid will do it again and honestly, I’d feel bad making him.”</p><p>“Don’t fret, I won’t be far away,” Sirius said to her, “when we have everything worked out here, which could admittedly take awhile, I’ll meet you at the school somewhere. I have… a few ways I can get in, don’t worry about that. Tricks of the trade.”</p><p>He gave her a knowing wink.</p><p>“We best go,” Bleeding Eyes said with a nod towards Skyla, “I imagine Mr Hagrid is getting suspicious at this point.”</p><p>“Alright.”</p><p>She paused for a moment, before turning around and running back to Sirius once again, giving him one final hug while he chuckled.</p><p>“Go on kiddo,” he said fondly, “I’ll see you real soon.”</p><p>She turned to run off, however she paused at the door and looked back questioningly.</p><p>“Can I ask… before I go…”</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>“Can you… can you do the thing?” she asked hesitantly.</p><p>“The thing?”</p><p>“You know… the dog thing,” she said.</p><p>Sirius laughed, before jumping forward and morphing into the form of the large dog that she had seen all those years ago.</p><p>“Woah…” she looked down at him in awe as he approached and gently nuzzled her hand with his snout.</p><p>“You should tell him he’s a good boy,” Bleeding Eyes smirked, “I hear he likes that.”</p><p>“Woof.”</p><p>Sirius barked at him with a disapproving tone, which caused Skyla to laugh.</p><p>“But, he is a good boy,” Skyla said with a slightly mischievous smile as she patted him on the head, “isn’t he? Who’s a good boy? Is it you?”</p><p>With nothing else to do, he simply stood there and whined slightly with his paw over his face, while Skyla laughed and patted him on the head with amusement.</p><p>“That’s really cool,” Skyla said happily, while Sirius changed back into his human form, “I wonder if I could do something like that?”</p><p>“It’s incredibly difficult,” Sirius pointed out, “and first you have to think about what animal you would be. Not what you would like to be; but what you think best represents you. Your personality. Your values. Your traits. You don’t choose your animagus form, really, it chooses you.”</p><p>“... I… I don’t know,” she replied with surprise.</p><p>“Well, have a think about it,” he said with a nod, “and who knows, maybe with some time and training… some things do run in the family, after all. If anyone could pull it off, it would be you.”</p><p>He was almost blinded by the purity of the light that came beaming from Skyla’s ecstatic expression as she smiled at him, until Bleeding Eyes gently nudged her away by the shoulder and back out into the cart, leaving Sirius alone with his thoughts.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. The Quiet and the Storm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The morning after her fateful encounter with Sirius, Skyla wandered along the edge of the forbidden forest with Hermione and Neville in tow, filling them both in on everything that had happened previously. The common room and the Great Hall both felt far too exposed for such an intimate conversation so they had instead gulped down a hasty breakfast and departed for the edges of the grounds to talk in private, since most students avoided the forest as though it were haunted. Neville still argued that it was, despite Hermione pointing out there were already ghosts in the castle and that one of them even taught a subject. His unease at being so close to the forest was forgotten however when the girls both explained what had happened during the previous day, with Skyla proceeding to inform them both of what, or more specifically who, she had encountered at the bank.</p><p>“That’s crazy,” Neville commented with awe in his his voice at the conclusion of the tale.</p><p>“When it rains it pours,” Hermione said with a slight shake of her head, “trouble certainly seems to follow you around, doesn’t it?”</p><p>“Seems that way,” Skyla scoffed, “I’m starting to think it must be my magical karma or something.”</p><p>“Well, maybe not karma exactly but there could be magic at work,” Hermione pointed out, “we know so little about magic and even Professor Dumbledore once said that we’ll never fully understand all the intricacies of magic, no matter how long we study it. There are all kinds of curses and charms that have lasting effects for years and years; who knows if something magical is actually affecting you. These kind of things don’t just happen to people normally, you know.”</p><p>“My gran told me about how she was cursed once,” Neville added, “took her a month to break it and everywhere she went it started raining, but only exactly where she was.”</p><p>“If that’s all the bad luck that I get, I’ll take it,” Skyla said with a laugh, “something tells me that going forward, I’ll have more to worry about than rain.”</p><p>“So Sirius was just sitting in the vault?” Neville asked curiously, “he didn’t come crawling out of the shadows or-”</p><p>Skyla laughed, “Yep, the big bad wolf was just sitting right there on the floor. He seemed very surprised to see me; I don’t think him or Bleeding Eyes expected me to arrive so soon. Although to be fair, it was only because of Hermione that I was able to convince Hagrid to take me,” she added with a find look towards Hermione, “you’re such an amazing friend.”</p><p>Hermione blushed at the praise but waved her off, simply saying, “it’s what friends do.”</p><p>Skyla couldn’t help but smile at her for a moment longer, although the smile was short-lived.</p><p>“Anyway, about Sirius’ tale,” Hermione continued thoughtfully, “I find it quite difficult to believe if I’m being honest.”</p><p>“You think that he’s lying?” Skyla asked with a slight frown forming on her face, “I don’t think-”</p><p>“No, I’m not saying that,” Hermione clarified, “I’m sure HE believes it. I just find it too hard to believe that a magical government would be behind the murder of over a dozen muggles in any capacity, even if it was ten years ago. It just sounds like a wild conspiracy theory and I hope you can look at things objectively.”</p><p>“I don’t know much about what the muggle governments are like,” Neville said slowly, “but the Ministry isn’t exactly known for being full of integrity and morals, you know? I mean, look at the Malfoys. Lucius Malfoy still has a lot of influence there but everyone knows he was a Death Eater. There are others working there as-well who were never found guilty; my gran still blows up about it every now and then how Malfoy, Macnair and Nott managed to get away without imprisonment somehow. Everyone knows they were rotten to the core.”</p><p>“Sirius was never given a proper trial either,” Skyla added, “or any trial at all. No matter what happened with the Ministry, that’s still unbelievably unfair and he spent ten years on the run for a crime he didn’t commit, regardless of whether the Ministry did it or not.”</p><p>“That’s certainly true,” Hermione conceded, “and that alone is outrageous, but… what if he was given a trial and found guilty? What would you do? Wouldn’t that be even worse?”</p><p>Skyla shrugged, “he’s family, so I’ll stick by him no matter what. Besides, he has a plan to clear his name and I’ve got plenty of gold I can throw at whether he needs. I think we can make a good case, and maybe we can even get Sirius something for his time spent on the run.”</p><p>“I-” Hermione paused for a moment, before continuing in a delicate manner, “I’m just worried that you’re getting mixed up in something that might come back around to bite you. What if you get in trouble for helping him? What if you get arrested?”</p><p>“It’s not like I haven’t experienced what a prison is like before,” Skyla joked, although Hermione didn’t find it particularly funny.</p><p>“I don’t think this is something that you’ll talk her out of,” Neville said to Hermione, “and I understand where she is coming from. If I had a chance to… well, I’d take any risk to get my parents back.”</p><p>“I-” Hermione began hesitantly before pausing, apparently carefully considering her words before she spoke, “I’ve noticed that you don’t talk about your parents much, Neville. Are… are they…?”</p><p>Neville shook his head, “they’re not dead or anything. It’s just complicated.”</p><p>“Oh, okay…” </p><p>Neville sighed softly but simply said, “another time.”</p><p>Hermione paused for a moment but Neville didn’t seem intent on saying anything further, so she was forced to drop the subject.</p><p>“I just hope he knows what he’s doing,” she said to Skyla with a serious look, “you’re my best friend. I don’t want to see you getting taken away, ever.”</p><p>“I know,” Skyla said with a smile, “and that means a lot to me.”</p><p>The two stared at each other for a moment, before Neville cleared his throat slightly.</p><p>“I’ll try not to take offense, then,” he joked.</p><p>“Oh, sorry Neville I didn’t mean to imply-”</p><p>“It’s alright, I’m just joking. Every girl needs a best friend, right? Or so I’ve heard, at least.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t know,” Hermione said with a small laugh, “since I’ve never had one before but… well, it’s certainly a nice feeling. But you’re a very good friend and important to me too.”</p><p>“That’s more than enough for me,” Neville said with a smile, “anyway… do you know what Sirius is going to do now?” he asked Skyla.</p><p>“He’s got a plan but I don’t know all the details,” Skyla admitted, “I just have to stay here, keep myself out of trouble and continue to pretend that either I don’t know he exists, or that I hate him with a passion.”</p><p>Neville made a sympathetic noise, understanding just how difficult that would be for Skyla to do.</p><p>“What was he like?” Hermione asked curiously.</p><p>“He… wasn’t what I expected, I’ll admit,” Skyla said thoughtfully, “but I think he seems like a good person. I think I can see why my parents liked him.”</p><p>“And he didn’t kill you or anything,” Neville pointed out.</p><p>“And he didn’t kill me,” Skyla agreed with a smile.</p><p>“We’re really setting the bar high these days aren’t we,” Hermione scoffed, “come on, we better get to class before we’re late.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Alright.”</p><p>The three departed, still chatting as they went, however Skyla couldn’t help but feel a strange shiver run down her spine as she left. She had the distinct feeling that someone was watching her, yet when she turned around, there was no-one there. With a shrug, she let it slip from her mind and headed off to class, soon forgetting about the feeling altogether.</p><p>***************</p><p>Skyla enjoyed an uneventful few weeks after her encounter at the bank (by her standards, at least) and she had almost forgotten about Sirius and his plan entirely as she found herself being submerged into her daily life at Hogwarts. The school was a source of non-stop distractions, especially now that her classes had begun to get more and more interesting as they progressed beyond the introductory lessons and into the heart of their subjects. It turned out over the weeks that followed that Skyla had quite the aptitude for both Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms, and she was extremely quick to pick up any new spells and master the wand movements flawlessly (to both of her teachers delight). She had grown quite proficient at casting the disarming charm and, with a little help from Remus, had managed to perfect its casting in order to apply exactly the amount of force that she desired (for which Hermione deeply appreciated, having had to pick herself up off the floor multiple times to an apologetic Skyla). She was doing rather well in Potions and Transfiguration, however it was becoming apparent that Hermione was quickly taking the lead in those subjects as they required a lot more theoretical knowledge than they did dexterity or magical power. She was starting to prefer Transfiguration to Potions between the two, as even though she did enjoy the actual potion-making process, she found the classes to be quite strange and increasingly uncomfortable. Their teacher, Professor Snape, was still behaving a little oddly around Skyla and he had started to either randomly award her points out of nowhere, or bully anyone who spoke to her negatively (or spoke to her at all), even among the Slytherins. It was bizarre behaviour from the man and she even caught him simply sitting at his desk and staring at her sometimes, which made her feel more than a little uncomfortable and she tried to mostly ignore him when he did it. Neville was definitely starting to improve his own skills and knowledge due to the amount of time spent studying with the girls, however the only subject that he truly excelled in was Herbology, where he had become the hands-down favourite of Professor Sprout. It worked in their favour however; they all seemed to have areas that they flourished in and areas that they needed help, so the three soon became very accustomed to both learning from, and teaching, each other in their evenings spent together. None of the three were particularly adept at the remaining two subjects, however none of the three particularly cared; no-one was overly concerned about Astronomy (except for Hermione and that was purely for the grading) and History of Magic (where even Professor Binns didn’t seem to care about the subject).</p><p>With each of them bringing a particular area of interest to the collective study table, it allowed them to focus more in-depth within their subjects and Skyla found herself quickly advancing beyond the first year defensive spells and charms that they had been learning. It had only taken a few weeks for her to start itching her way towards more advanced magic and she had even managed to convince Remus to give her access to the restricted section, with a little help from Hermione, of course.</p><p>“Sir,” Skyla had politely asked at the end of one of their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, “may I speak to you for a moment?”</p><p>“Please,” he said with a chuckle as the other students funneled out of the classroom, though Hermione and Neville remained with Skyla, “I’ve told you before, call me Remus. Sir sounds so… old. I hope I don’t look THAT ragged.”</p><p>“How are you feeling?” Skyla asked, “you know, after last week.”</p><p>Remus had been absent from their classes during the previous week due to his poor health and Professor Flitwick had stepped in to teach the class. It made complete sense to Skyla and she was happy about that as the experienced teacher already taught one spell-casting subject; D.A.D.A. was not all that different from Charms at its core, not to mention that everyone knew he was a former dueling champion and had clearly mastered spell-casting in all of its forms. Skyla was a little glad privately that that it hadn’t been Professor Snape who had subbed in, although she knew it would be ridiculous for a potions-master to teach a combat subject and that no-one in the right mind would have thought he would make a good substitute.</p><p>“Oh, fine, fine,” Remus said airily, though his cheeks were still quite gaunt and he looked extremely fatigued, “such is my condition. It’s a… complicated medical condition and isn’t likely to get better anytime soon, so I may miss more classes in the future unfortunately.”</p><p>“I’m sorry to hear that,” Skyla said sadly, “is there anything I can do?”</p><p>Remus smiled, but shook his head.</p><p>“No, though many have tried. Don’t worry too much about it though, I have learned to manage it well. Anyway, you wanted to ask me something?”</p><p>“Oh right. Well, I’ve been doing some pre-reading and I’ve gotten a bit further ahead than our current spells-”</p><p>“-I had noticed as much,” Remus said with a smile.</p><p>“-and I wanted to learn some more in-depth magic,” she continued, “we were studying in the library and there’s a section there that is restricted-”</p><p>“-the Restricted Section, yes,” Remus pointed out, “incidentally named so because it is restricted.”</p><p>“Well we couldn’t help but have a quick peek in from the entrance,” Skyla admitted, “and some of those books sound so interesting! I really want to study some, I bet I could learn so much, but Madam Prince was rather… aggressive in getting us to leave-”</p><p>“She hasn’t changed over the years then,” Remus said with a laugh.</p><p>“-and we were thinking… if we had permission from a teacher…”</p><p>“So you want me to give you a note that allows you to rummage around in the Restricted Section,” Remus said with a slight smile on his lips, “simply to satisfy your curiosity?”</p><p>“Uh…”</p><p>Skyla paused and looked over to her friends for help.</p><p>“Well sir, if I may,” Hermion began.</p><p>“Remus,” he corrected.</p><p>“Remus… sir,” Hermione said impulsively, causing the group to laugh. She blushed slightly, but continued.</p><p>“We’ve all spoken about… Sirius Black,” she said quietly, causing Remus’ to straighten up slightly and a serious expression to form on his face, “and we know about your plan to go and find him during the holidays, but even Skyla wouldn’t be any help right now, not without learning more advanced magic. I’m actually on your side with this and think that she shouldn’t be involved at all, but if she wants to be involved, I would very much like for her to at least have a few advanced spells up her sleeve in case she needs them. First year magic wouldn’t do any good against Sirius Black would it?”</p><p>“No, you’re right about that,” Remus said with a frown, “in a duel I don’t think even I would be able to best him, honestly.”</p><p>“And even if Skyla was learning seventh year content, Sirius would know it all and counter it easily,” Hermione continued, “but… if she knew something unexpected, something from the Restricted Section…”</p><p>Remus stared at her thoughtfully for a moment.</p><p>“There is magic within those shelves that Sirius would not have encountered, its true,” Remus said quietly, “but it is restricted for a reason. Those aren’t spells that grow boils or break bones; there are spells in those books that damage souls and take lives. They are not spells for children to settle grudges with or-”</p><p>“I have no interest in using those spells on any other students,” Skyla said truthfully, “I just want to be able to defend Si-myself, if I have to.”</p><p>If Remus noticed her slip up, he didn’t mention it as he observed her thoughtfully.</p><p>“I have to admit, the thought you having a few extra spells in your arsenal to keep yourself safe does help to put my own mind at ease. I worry about you.”</p><p>After a long pause, he eventually sighed and gave in.</p><p>“I’ll give you your access,” he eventually said, causing Skyla to beam in response, “however you must promise me you won’t use that magic unless you absolutely need to. I am trusting you with this.”</p><p>“I promise,” Skyla said eagerly, “I have absolutely no intention of using any magic on anyone.”</p><p>“You best be careful in there, those books can be dangerous by their own right,” Remus advised as he scribbled down his note, “if you have any doubts about a book ask Madam Prince immediately. Don’t take any risks.”</p><p>“I won’t, I promise.”</p><p>With an entirely new world of spells and magical knowledge at her fingertips (and a shocked, almost offended, Madam Prince breathing down her neck as she begrudgingly gave her access), Skyla ended up spending most of her time within the Restricted Section, pouring over book after book in awe. She learned that some of the enchanted books yelled profanities at her when she opened them (which was extremely distracting when trying to read the contents), some tried to bite her hand as though they had teeth and Madam Prince had cautioned her against opening a few particularly nasty books at all as they would curse her if she was unprepared. True to her word, she had consulted with Madam Prince about most of the books within the shelves before touching them and the terse librarian seemed to at least appreciate the fact that Skyla was being extremely cautious and respectful of the dangers they presented. Remus’ permission technically only extended to Skyla as a ‘special case’, so Hermione was forced to wait outside the Restricted Section and study her own books with a very jealous expression that Skyla rather enjoyed teasing her about from time to time.</p><p>With her head full of thoughts about a strange spell that she had discovered within an archaic tome, Skyla hadn’t even noticed that someone was trying to get her attention as she leaned against the wall, waiting to go into Potions class on Friday morning and absently staring at the ground.</p><p>“Skyla? Skyla? Hello?”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>She blinked rapidly to see that Ron Weasley was standing in front of her, while Neville watched on with surprise and Hermione looked rather angry and defensive at the mere sight of him.</p><p>“Hey, can I talk to you? In private?”</p><p>Skyla blinked in surprise as Ron reached out and tugged on her sleeve gently, indicating down the corridor and away from the other waiting students (who were attempting to soak in the last few moments of ‘freedom’ before having to enter the dreaded potions lab). Hermione immediately stepped closer and stood beside Skyla protectively, however Ron simply held up his hands in surrender.</p><p>“I’m not going to do anything,” he said wearily, “I just want to talk to her.”</p><p>“It’s alright,” Skyla said gently to Hermione, “we’ll just go over here.”</p><p>“If he tries anything-”</p><p>Skyla patted Hermione gently on the arm in a soothing manner.</p><p>“I’ll be fine.”</p><p>Hermione continued to watch like a hawk as the two stepped aside, while Neville simply leaned against the wall and waited with a curious look on his face.</p><p>“So… how are you?” Skyla asked carefully as they walked out of earshot from the others, “you know… after… the howler and everything…”</p><p>Ron visibly shuddered at the memory of his mother’s voice blasting him from the angry red letter that he had received after his fight with Draco. It was always unpleasant to receive a howler, however receiving one during breakfast within the Great Hall, in front of all of the students, was another thing altogether. Skyla had pitied Ron in the moment and even Hermione had bit her tongue, instead deciding to talk about their Charms homework to distract themselves.</p><p>“The less said about that the better,” he said with a shake of his head, still clearly traumatised by the event, “but I did what McGonagall suggested. I just kept my cool, said sorry to Malfoy, didn’t make a fuss about anything and in the end, I just had my detentions and loss of points. I’m never going back into that trophy room though. Never.”</p><p>“Wasn’t Malfoy’s father furious?” Skyla asked curiously, “from what I know of him I thought he would try to get you expelled.”</p><p>“Well, turns out that he doesn’t actually have the power to do that,” Ron said with a slight laugh, “as much as Draco talks him up, it’s only McGonagall or Dumbledore who can actually do that. Malfoy can only make a motion to remove a staff member or change the curriculum, as McGonagall pointed out to him in our ‘meeting’.”</p><p>Ron smirked slightly at what was apparently a fond memory.</p><p>“I tell you, it almost made it all worth it,” Ron said, “seeing McGonagall tearing Malfoy’s dad a new one about him ‘overstepping his authority’ and ‘encroaching on educational matters for his personal gains’. I thought she might have suspended me or something, but she ended up defending me in the end. Crazy.”</p><p>“That’s good then.”</p><p>“Yeah, I got off pretty light all things considered,” Ron admitted quietly, “I know that now. I actually felt a bit bad about putting McGonagall in that situation, to be honest. No… I felt like a right arse, truth be told. All because I couldn’t control myself.”</p><p>“Have you told Professor McGonagall that?” Skyla asked, to which Ron shook his head.</p><p>“Maybe you should. I think she’d like to hear that.”</p><p>“Yeah… maybe… well, anyway, that’s not why I dragged you aside.”</p><p>“So what is?”</p><p>“Quidditch trials are starting on the weekend,” Ron explained, “I thought I would give you a heads up that Gryffindors trials are tomorrow. I only know ‘cause my brothers are in the team from last year, but even they didn’t tell me until today. No-one really bothers to tell the first years since no-one ever makes it on the team.”</p><p>“Okay. Uh, why are you telling me this?”</p><p>Skyla waited for the continuation, but Ron simply looked at her blankly.</p><p>“I might have been arguing with Malfoy for half of it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t see you fly. I taught my sister, Ginny, how to fly and you are way ahead of where she was when she started. I reckon’ that you could be pretty good if you practiced. Not everyone has that ability.”</p><p>Skyla stared at him blankly, “wait, so you think I should tryout for… quidditch? Me?”</p><p>“Why not?” he said with a shrug, “it’s not that first years aren’t allowed on the team it’s just that they can’t have their own brooms, so the quidditch teams don’t like to advertise to first years since it means that someone on the team will be riding a school broom and that puts them at a disadvantage.”</p><p>“But doesn’t that mean I won’t make the team?” Skyla asked pointedly, “so won’t I just be wasting my time?”</p><p>“Well, Fred and George both said the team struggled last year and the captain might look to make some changes,” Ron said thoughtfully, “apparently they got flattened last year, bottom of the table, though they both blame the old seeker who graduated. ‘Couldn’t catch a cold’ Fred said.”</p><p>“Are you trying out?” Skyla asked curiously, “you know how to fly too.”</p><p>“Maybe,” he said vaguely, “I mean… if someone else is going from first year I’ll go, but, I don’t want to be the only one…”</p><p>“Ah, so that’s why you want me to go,” Skyla teased with a laugh, “so that I can look foolish out there and make you look better.”</p><p>“No, not at all-” Ron began quickly, “-I-”</p><p>“I’m just joking,” Skyla said with a smile, “I mean… I don’t really care about quidditch if I’m being honest, but I do kind of want to fly again. It was fun.”</p><p>“So you’ll go?” Ron asked enthusiastically.</p><p>“Well... why not I guess,” Skyla eventually said with a shrug, “sure. I’ll look like an idiot, but-”</p><p>“It’s only trials,” Ron said dismissively, “it will just be the old team and a few new people trying out. Besides, it’s not like anyone else from our year looked… well, stable, in the air. There might not even be much competition if we’re lucky.”</p><p>“Always nice to be picked as a last resort,” Skyla joked.</p><p>Their conversation was interrupted as Professor Snape approached them in the corridor on his way to the classroom.</p><p>“Giving Weasley lessons, Skyla?” Snape said with a slight sneer, “a wise move. We might all be able to avoid being poisoned by his fumes today.”</p><p>Skyla shifted uncomfortably in silence while Ron’s ears turned slightly red in anger, but he said nothing in response and eventually Snape stalked off towards the classroom with one final disdainful look at Ron.</p><p>“I really, really, dislike him,” Ron said with a frown, “he’s become a right prick to everyone lately, and that’s saying something.”</p><p>“He’s… been very odd,” Skyla admitted.</p><p>“And he calls everyone by their last name except you.”</p><p>That hadn’t escaped her notice, though she didn’t know what to make of that.</p><p>“Anyway… as I was saying, the trials are tomorrow at 11 o’clock down at the quidditch pitch. I’ll meet you there.”</p><p>Ron headed in the direction of the classroom to catch up with Seamus and Dean, nodding briefly to Neville, and even Hermione, as he passed by.</p><p>“So what the hell did he want?” Hermione asked quickly after Skyla returned and they shuffled inside.</p><p>“He wants me to go to the quidditch tryouts with him,” Skyla said with a shrug.</p><p>“And? You told him to get stuffed, right?”</p><p>“I said I would go,” Skyla replied nonchalantly, causing Hermione’s mouth to drop open in shock.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“I want to fly again,” Skyla said simply.</p><p>“Is-is that the only reason?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“Yes… why? Why else would I go?” Skyla asked, confused.</p><p>“No reason… that’s, that’s good,” Hermione said absently, though she still had a slight frown on her face, to Skyla’s great confusion. Eventually, she simply shrugged and forgot about it; Hermione and Ron had their fair share of unpleasant exchanges thus far and it was clear that the two didn’t particularly like each other, so she was probably just being annoyed at Ron in general. He had actually been pleasant enough to talk to for a change and Skyla could see that his unpleasant run in with Malfoy and McGongall (and his howler) had caused him to think twice about his behaviour. She could only hope that it was the start of something new for the boy, though she had her suspicions that Hermione was very unlikely to offer forgiveness anytime soon. Not that any of it really mattered; she was going to show up tomorrow, probably fall off her broom or something and walk off being a laughing stock of the school. She’d probably be with Ron for all of ten minutes and she’d never get on a broom again.</p><p>“Quidditch, huh?” Neville asked, “have you played before?”</p><p>“Never,” Skyla laughed, “I haven’t done any training or even flown properly before. I’m not going to make the team, that would be ridiculous.”</p><p>***************</p><p>“This is ridiculous,” Ron said with exasperation the following afternoon as they looked over the Gryffindor quidditch team roster that was posted in the common room, with ‘Skyla Potter’ listed squarely under the ‘seeker’ position.</p><p>“Hey you’re the one who wanted me to try out,” she pointed out with a laugh, “you said I might make the team.”</p><p>“Yeah but I didn’t think you would make seeker!” he said with a shake of his head, “it’s a really important position, and you’re the youngest seeker in a century! The last one was Eddie Green and he went on to be both Captain and Head Boy.”</p><p>Skyla raised an eyebrow at him.</p><p>“The trophy room,” he simply said with a shudder.</p><p>Skyla laughed before replying, “I literally got lucky, I’ve told you this.”</p><p>“You don’t have to be humble between us.”</p><p>“It was actually luck, though!”</p><p>“Uh huh.”</p><p>“Eurgh. No-one believes me.”</p><p>The trials themselves had been a lot quieter than she had expected as there weren’t many other people attempting to make the team. She had spoken to the Captain, Oliver Wood, and explained that she was just here to fly around and to have a bit of a go, and he had seemed surprisingly understanding.</p><p>“We’ll give you a fair go at all the roles then,” he had said with a nod, “see if there’s any spark there, see what works for you.”</p><p>After being made to fly around with the other trialing students for awhile to test their maneuverability (in which Skyla felt she did okay, but she could definitely feel the limits of the broom impacting her performance), the prospects were then broken up for positional trials and drills. Skyla had no idea what the positions even were, or what they did, so Wood simply had her float from group to group to give everything a try. Skyla quite enjoyed playing with the ‘chaser’ group; the other students there were quite welcoming and friendly, and throwing the ball around together while flying was a lot of fun; although it was slightly intimidating playing with the older students, especially the confident, good-looking and extremely skilled trio who played last year. Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell flew together seamlessly and with their obvious experience and skill, there was simply no way that Wood could ever choose anyone else as chasers. The second year tryout, Lucas King, gave the girls a decent run for their money and Skyla was quite impressed at his ability to both fly with finesse and score goals from very long range; if the other three didn’t have as much synergy together she could see Lucas taking a spot, but he didn’t seem particularly off-put at not having made the main roster.</p><p>“I’m so behind in transfiguration,” Lucas had admitted to Skyla with a chuckle when they had taken a break, flicking his wavy blonde hair back behind his white headband, “honestly it’s probably better for me not to make the team. I could use the extra study time. What made you want to tryout?”</p><p>“I… I just wanted to fly,” she admitted in a quiet voice which made him chuckle further.</p><p>“A fair a reason as any.”</p><p>Once Skyla had seen the ‘beaters’ in action, which were only Fred and George Weasley, she knew that position was certainly not going to be the one for her. The two flew seamlessly together and struck with finesse and skill, all the while leaving Skyla wondering how on earth they managed to be so accurate while striking a ball with such a heavy bat in the air. When she had tried her hand at it at Wood’s insistence, she had instead sent the thick club flying through the air and Wood was forced to dive out of the way of the oncoming concussion, to the general laughter of the team and the bright red face of Skyla.</p><p>“I’m thinking beater might not be your forte,” Wood admitted to an apologetic Skyla, waving her apologies off nonchalantly.</p><p>Skyla didn’t even bother with trying out for the ‘keeper’ position as that was what Ron was trialing for and she had no intention of reducing his chances at making the team. It turned out that Wood himself played keeper for the team and surprisingly, when that had been revealed, Ron had tried to withdraw his tryout and mumbled to Wood about maybe trying for a ‘back up spot or something’ instead.</p><p>“No spot is guaranteed,” Wood had simply said and refused to accept his withdrawal, “even mine. We will compete fairly for the position and if you win it out, you win it out. No hard feelings. Whatever gets us the win is all I care about, whether I play or coach from the sidelines.”</p><p>Skyla had to admit that Ron was far better at the position than she had expected and he had surprisingly good reflexes, but in-spite of all of that, Wood was quite plainly the superior keeper. Skyla had wondered how Ron would take it, but Ron had simply shaken Wood’s hand and thanked him for the opportunity, though he looked a little pained as he did so.</p><p>‘If only Hermione could see this,’ Skyla had thought to herself with a chuckle.</p><p>Eventually, the time had come for Skyla and the other prospective seeker, a third year boy called Leon Williams, who had short dark brown hair and a playful aura, to undergo their trials for the position.</p><p>“What… what does a seeker do, exactly?” Skyla asked hesitantly when Wood had taken the two aside. She had been prepared to be laughed at, but neither of the boys did anything other than answer her question seriously, which she appreciated.</p><p>“It’s pretty straight forward, don’t worry,” Leon had said with a nod.</p><p>“Your job as a Seeker is incredibly simple,” Wood explained as he held up a tiny golden ball in his fingers that looked no bigger than a golf ball, and showed it to her.</p><p>“You catch this, the team gets one hundred and fifty points and stops the game. You catch this, we win.”</p><p>“I feel like there’s a catch,” Skyla said with a nervous laugh.</p><p>“Ha! Good one!” Leon laughed appreciatively, though Skyla hadn’t realised she had made a joke at all.</p><p>Wood smirked slightly and he let the ball go; two tiny golden wings unfolded from the sides and beat rapidly in the wind, hovering in the air for a moment before all of a sudden, the ball darted off in the blink of an eye. The ball was lightning fast and once Skyla had lost track of it, it had all but disappeared from view.</p><p>“Woah!”</p><p>“Tricky little buggers,” Wood commented, “damn near impossible to see and even harder to get your hands on. The game doesn’t end until the snitch has been caught so if you don’t have a good Seeker, you’re gonna be playing for awhile.”</p><p>“The game doesn’t end?” Skyla asked in surprise, “what, ever?”</p><p>“Well, unless a team concedes,” Wood pointed out, “and if you’re down two thousand to a hundred, you might just cut your losses and go home, at least at our level. The longest professional match ever went for three months, but I doubt they’d let a school match go for that long without someone conceding.”</p><p>“Three months?”</p><p>“They rotated out the players,” Wood explained, “that’s why it pays to have good reserves in the major leagues.”</p><p>“So what’s our trial, Wood?” Leon asked, “catch the snitch?”</p><p>“Exactly that,” Wood nodded, “the one who brings me the snitch gets the spot, clear and simple.”</p><p>“Nice.”</p><p>“But it could be anywhere,” Skyla said slowly, with a slight frown.</p><p>“It’s restricted to the quidditch pitch,” Wood clarified, “and it can’t go much higher than the stands so it won’t be up in the clouds or anything. It’s around here somewhere.”</p><p>“I’ll be back in a minute,” Leon said with a grin and a wink to Skyla as he mounted his broom and quickly shot off into the sky. Not wanting to be left behind, Skyla quickly jumped on her own broom and took off, dashing around the field while looking intently for any sign of the small ball. </p><p>Surprisingly, it didn’t take her very long as she almost collided with it when it suddenly flew straight past her face, causing her to pull up. She swiped at the air wildly on pure instinct and when she looked down, she realised that she had the small golden ball in her hand and she watched it tuck its wings away neatly into its body, conceding defeat. It was quite pretty and very detailed, now that she was looking at it up close.</p><p>“Huh. How about that.”</p><p>She laughed as she flew back to Wood, who wasn’t even watching and was talking to Angelina about something else while she and Leon had been searching for the snitch (Leon was still roaming the skies, unaware that Skyla had even caught it).</p><p>“Well, uh, here you go,” she said sheepishly as she handed a surprised Wood the snitch.</p><p>“What? Already?” </p><p>He ogled her hand and true enough, the golden snitch was sitting comfortably on her outstretched palm, right over her distinctive star-shaped scar.</p><p>“That can’t have been more than a minute.”</p><p>Wood stared at her for so long that she began to fidget uncomfortably.</p><p>“It was pure luck, honestly,” she said truthfully, “it just kind of… showed up. We should probably do it again…”</p><p>Wood shook his head however.</p><p>“I set the rules of the challenge and they were clear. Besides, finding the snitch is only half the battle; the hard part is catching it, which you did. In under a minute.”</p><p>“I mean, ‘finding’ is a strong word, I almost ate it-”</p><p>“Alright everyone!” Wood suddenly announced, “I’ve decided on the roster!”</p><p>“But, wait-”</p><p>So it was that Skyla and Ron found themselves later that day staring at the Gryffindor quidditch team roster posted in the common room, joined shortly after by both Hermione and Neville.</p><p>“Wow, you made the team,” Neville said, sounding impressed.</p><p>“Pure luck, honestly,” Skyla said with a shake of her head, “it truly was.”</p><p>“Bit of bad luck for you though Ron,” Neville said sadly, “but maybe next year?”</p><p>“Wood is just too good, and the team doesn’t really need a back-up Keeper,” Ron sighed, “not when Leon and Lucas are the reserves. They’re both a lot better than me so it’s probably for the best.”</p><p>“Humility from Ron? Never thought I would see the day,” Hermione scoffed. Ron frowned at her but he bit his tongue, which only served to surprise Hermione further. Skyla smirked slightly and gave Ron a reassuring smile to indicate that she appreciated his efforts at establishing some form of neutrality.</p><p>“I still can’t believe I’m on the team honestly,” Skyla admitted with a dry laugh, “I’ve never been on a team before and I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve never even watched a sport before. I can’t help but wonder if this is a bad idea… I hope no-one expects too much from me.”</p><p>Unfortunately for Skyla, low expectations were not something she was graced with once news of her selection had circled the school (in a remarkably short time). As if she wasn’t famous enough from her defeat of the Dark Lord, her incredibly successful parents and her own D.A.D.A. and Charms prowess, she was now the youngest seeker in a century (as everyone liked to remind her) after catching the snitch in under a minute (though no-one seemed to let her explain that the snitch had restrictions on it). It was certainly nice being spoken to with positivity by everyone in the corridors as she had suddenly become the shining beacon of Gryffindor, even to the older students, yet it came at a cost as most of the interactions also added a heavy pressure to her already stressful life.</p><p>“Can’t wait to see you play, Skyla! I bet you’ll be even better than your dad was.”</p><p>“Gryffindor are going to win it all this year for sure with the Girl-Who-Lived playing seeker! I bet ten galleons on it this morning with Lee! Don’t let me down, Skyla! … cause… I don’t actually have it…”</p><p>“Can I get an autograph? I bet it will be worth loads later when you go pro!”</p><p>She could feel the weight on her shoulders growing by the day and it was only Hermione who seemed to have any concerns other than the winning record that Gryffindor was primed to have. </p><p>“We’ll have to factor training times into the study schedule,” she had pointed out one evening in the common room with a slight frown, “this will complicate things. How often do you train with the team?”</p><p>“Twice a week.”</p><p>Laughter from behind her caused her to turn around and she spotted the older Gryffindor chasers, Alicia, Angelina and Katie chucking and leaning on the back of Skyla’s lounge.</p><p>“Twice a week she says,” Alicia laughed.</p><p>“Oh the poor dear,” Angelina sighed, “the beauty of innocence.”</p><p>“You just wait,” Katie said grimly, “it’s twice a week now, but then there will be ‘a team meeting’ here and a ‘strategy and tactics get-together’ there…”</p><p>“I hope we at least get through the rest of the month before Wood starts pulling the six o’clock starts on us,” Alicia said with a frown, “I swear, if he makes us freeze our tits off in that stupid ‘cold weather’ challenge again-”</p><p>“But we’ll be better prepared for the cold!” Katie added in a mocking voice, to the laughter of the other girls, “because who’s ever heard of wearing gloves, right?”</p><p>“We won’t really be training at six, will we?” Skyla asked hesitantly, “not during the winter?”</p><p>The flat expressions she received from the older girls made her suddenly grow a deeper appreciation for the warm and cosy bed waiting for her upstairs.</p><p>Surprisingly, even Lavender and Parvati seemed to have changed their tune once they found out that Skyla was the new seeker and a hot commodity once again.</p><p>“I didn’t know you were the sporty type, that’s kind of cool,” Lavender had said to Skyla with interest as the girls got ready for bed, “I thought you were just into books.”</p><p>“Everyone knows her father was a legend at the sport,” Parvati pointed out, “I bet she inherited it from him. Did you play a lot while growing up?”</p><p>“Never been on a broom before our flying lessons,” Skyla admitted.</p><p>“Even more impressive,” Parvati said with an appreciative look.</p><p>“I bet you’re gonna get loads of attention from the boys now,” Lavender suddenly giggled, “you might want to do something with your hair, you know.”</p><p>“What? Why?”</p><p>“Why? To look good! What if one of the older boys wants to…”</p><p>Lavender and Parvati both broke down into wild giggles together, while Hermione simply rolled her eyes at the immaturity and Skyla looked on in confusion.</p><p>In the end, between her new responsibilities of attempting to fit into a new team, learn a professionally played sport from the ground up, study the Restricted Section for advanced magic and stay on top of a strict homework schedule, she had almost forgotten entirely about Sirius’ troubles back at the bank.</p><p>***************</p><p>Unlike Skyla, who was living her rather frantic life in the cold north, Sirius was finding himself stuck in a very slow, and very boring, rut back down in the south. He had spent the last few weeks of his life trawling through long, tedious books on criminal law and historical trials, cutting out old newspaper articles that mentioned him, recording his memories into vials sorted by date… he was almost starting to wonder if life in prison would have been the better option. </p><p>At least now that Bleeding Eyes knew Skyla was onboard, Sirius had a much more comfortable time in his vault; a proper comfortable bed, shower facilities, a desk and even a small kitchenette, fully stocked with food, had been added to the vault. He had been provided with everything that he needed to be comfortable and to start his work, though being trapped underground was already starting to wear on his senses (not that the goblins saw long periods of time spent underground as ‘unhealthy’). Skyla had told him that she had lived in an underground cellar and he wondered how she hadn’t gone mad if this was all she had ever seen; four walls and a door that hardly ever opened.</p><p>The peaceful time in the vault had at least given him a chance to reflect, and he knew in hindsight that he had handled his first interaction with Skyla rather poorly. She had certainly seemed happy enough when she had left and his head was still attached to his shoulders, which was always a bonus, but he knew that he hadn’t exactly come across as a mature and responsible adult that was ready to take care of her. Not that he felt he was, having spent the last ten years primarily in his animal form, but he would have liked to at least appeared that way. He knew that he had adopted more of the rough, rugged nature of the creature within than he would have liked; his mental state was still adjusting to being back in his human form and he was still getting used to having a shower or eating with a knife and fork.</p><p>Still, he felt as though he was making good progress. It was going to be a long and painful journey for him and he knew it as he attempted to slowly piece his evidence together, bit by bit, from anything that he could scrounge up. His memories would be a key piece of evidence, but he knew that he needed much more than that to put together a solid presentation for the Gringotts board.</p><p>With step one of his plan completed and with Skyla having pledged her support, he was now faced with the far more difficult task of getting the bank to do the same. He knew that any form of human support would be unlikely; even if he wanted to try he couldn’t exactly go asking around the magical community at large for support as he would no doubt end up in duel after duel the moment anyone saw his face. Some witches and wizards had long memories. While gaining the goblins’ favour might do little to support his cause in the public’s eyes, the Ministry would certainly begin to pay attention if they thought their gold and property were at risk, and that was the true response that Sirius needed. If there was one thing that the Ministry was paranoid of it was the goblins taking over, so any movement on their part within the political scene would send shockwaves throughout the government. </p><p>Shockwaves that Sirius could ride to freedom.</p><p>“Remember, I can only get you in for a meeting with the board,” Bleeding Eyes had reminded him, “but I can do no more than that. You’ll have one chance to convince the board that it’s worth backing you, otherwise both of our heads will be sitting on pikes in the caverns below.”</p><p>Sirius had gotten the distinct impression that Bleeding Eyes was being very literal with the threat.</p><p>Even with his access to Skyla’s resources (though he hadn’t used any gold yet) it would prove to be a very difficult task. Goblins were notorious for their desire for wealth and power so it would be on Sirius to demonstrate the potential gains to the board who were, as Bleeding Eyes described, ‘the greediest and most difficult goblins you will ever speak with’. He already knew that proving his innocence would mean nothing to the goblins and they needed more than just a vault full of gold to act; they needed promises of power, and perhaps even of revenge. If he could convince them of that, all he would need to do would be to work the proving of his innocence into the deal somewhere.</p><p>He sighed softly and continued his work, wondering idly what Skyla was up to. He supposed she was studying, or more likely playing with her friends (who was he kidding; a student at Hogwarts, studying? That would be the day). He still found it rather crazy that his goddaughter, after ten years, had suddenly returned into the fold and he hadn’t thought that he would miss her already after having only met her the once, but he did. Still, who could blame him; she was beautiful and well spoken, if perhaps a little… unusual. His heart weighed heavily with the guilt of having failed to protect her, yet it was also swollen with pride at how the girl had turned out, despite her difficult childhood. He certainly had a thousand (rather angry) questions that he wanted to ask of his former friends and allies and fully intended to when he got the chance, however he could do nothing about Skyla until he was proven innocent and he used his guilt, anger and frustration to fuel his energy as he continued to power through the seemingly endless piles of books and articles in front of him that Bleeding Eyes had scrounged up from the goblin archives (or more specifically, ordered a lower level goblin to do). </p><p>Sirius had never been the bookish type; he learned best from seeing and doing, so the task of deciphering all of the legal and technical language that he was reading was quite a challenge for him. He knew that if all went well, he would have the aid of the goblins and their legal representatives in the future to help truly cement the plan, however he still needed to learn enough about his own situation to be able to present a case to the board that would survive their rigorous dissection. This meant that he had to learn more than he ever thought he would need to know about not only magical law, but historical trials and the history of the goblins and their wars. He knew very little about both, which was unsurprising to anyone; who actually paid attention in History of Magic class anyway? Not even his own History of Magic teacher had the patience to sit through that, and he had been dead for a hundred years.</p><p>With another sigh and a shake of his head to try and clear out the cobwebs, he focused back into his reading and attempted to once again decipher exactly what a ‘impleader’ and ‘interpleader' were.</p><p>***************</p><p>“At last… I have returned home.”</p><p>The flicker of a dark, grim shadow wavered against the imposing oak tree that it clung to, peering out from the edge of the dense forest, as close to the bright light and vibrancy of the Hogwarts school grounds as it dared to approach. The shadow almost appeared to have the shape of a man, yet the edges of his form ruffled in the wind and sewed darkness onto the shriveling ground behind him, where the foliage itself seemed to wilt and fade at his unnatural presence. Two bright, scarlet eyes observed the scene before him and he spoke to himself in a warbled, unsettling voice that simply did not belong in this world.</p><p>“It is her.”</p><p>He watched the happy students that were flying around the quidditch pitch before him on brooms, wearing red and gold robes that shimmered in the sunlight while passing the sporting balls back and forth between them, clearly practicing quidditch drills for an upcoming season. He disregarded the others as inconsequential and focused instead onto the one single girl who was darting through the air, rapidly swerving and weaving through the other players without a worry or care as she chased a dazzling, golden ball through the sky. Her long black hair was tied behind her head and he could just make out her determined green eyes starting intently at the snitch as she chased it. The girl was quite fast and was clearly talented, given that he could see she was using an old school broom (it might have even been a broom from when he himself attended school), yet she was able to keep up with, and eventually close her fist around, the notoriously fast and agile golden snitch. She had a triumphant look upon her face as she held it up in the air and called out to what appeared to be the Captain, asking for him to reset the snitch. He had to admit that she was quite a beautiful girl as far as aesthetics went; even from a distance the girl looked exactly like her charismatic mother who had captured even Severus’ cold, dead heart. He didn’t need to see her face to know exactly who she was, however; he could feel her. He could feel her magic striking through the air as if it were bolts of powerful lightning and he could feel her presence in his mind like a whisper in his ear, taunting him with maddening words that mocked his very existence. It was these feeling that had drawn him back to Hogwarts after all those years had passed; he had always felt something in the back of his mind as he had wandered through the dark corners world, drifting from one country to another, floating from one backwater to the next, sifting through the mind of one desperate muggle to the next depraved wretch. He was not dead as he had been kept from death by his own precautions while he had walked among the living, yet even he could not say truly say that he was alive. He simply existed in the nether as a shadow; a ghost who walked among the living, as a certain woman had so astutely said all those years ago.</p><p>It was only recently that he had felt a magic that was powerful enough to stir him from his wandering slumber as he drifted alone through the shadows. He could still see it within his mind; the cause of his awakening. That first lightning bolt of power, so exhilarating and refreshing. He watched as a young girl gasped with shock and inspected the extravagant, flourished letters that swirled in beautiful loops across the front of the perfectly sealed envelope that she held within her small, delicate and suddenly trembling hands. He knew what the letter was, yet it wasn’t the Hogwarts letter that had generated the powerful burst of magic that had attracted his wandering mind and given him his sense back. It had been the feeling of hope, brought forth within the hands and the heart of the trembling girl. He knew it well, there were none who knew it better than him; he who had come from the lowest of origins to rise and become the most powerful wizard in the world. He knew the very cellar that the girl apparently lived in; he himself had been down there, so many years ago. He had taken a young boy down with him when he was first learning to control his magic, and experimented in ways that others might have deemed ‘unethical’. He watched as the girl read her own name on the letter in surprise, an overwhelming sense of being flooding the girl’s senses as she mumbled the name to herself, over and over. Such a small thing, such a precious thing, the power of a name. There were none who knew that power better than he, Lord Voldemort, who had cast away his old name and taken on a mantle that the world would fear to speak.</p><p>Something about the memory caused a strange stirring within himself. He knew that it was not sympathy; he felt no such weakness. Perhaps it was regret? If so, he regretted only that the girl had not been born under different circumstances. She could have been trained to serve him no doubt, and she would have been a powerful tool but he knew that wistfully wishing for the past to change was the way of fools, and the way of the weak, like Dumbledore. He had no room for such thoughts. Not he. Not the Dark Lord. He looked only to the future now, and he knew exactly what the future would hold for him.</p><p>To regain his form, he knew that he needed to find the one who had been his downfall. He knew that she was the key to returning himself to a body. Any body.</p><p>Her body, if he must.</p><p>The shadow retreated back into the safety of the dark forest, the beginnings of a plan starting to form within his clever, insidious and most definitely unethical mind.</p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Tides of the Undertow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As the frantic school days within Hogwarts rapidly blurred past like the view from a bullet train, the chilly Autumn winds began to whisper tidings in the air of the harsh northern winter that was rapidly approaching. The first hints of snow had arrived and small, gentle flakes were starting to make their way down from the clouds above, falling upon the tall towers of the castle and painting them in a beautiful sheet of soft, delicate white. The grounds of the ancient school of magic had not yet been covered in the thick layers of snow that would soon be arriving, however the thin layers that were forming were still enough to cause the school caretaker, Argus Filch, to have a mild heart attack every time a wayward student wandered in with snow and mud all over their boots. It wasn’t unusual to see groups of three or four students huddled together and hugging the wall as they hurried down a shivering corridor towards their classes with their breath steaming in the air, often taking the longest way around to avoid Filch’s ire as he chased students up and down the hallways while shaking his cane in their direction and spitting words that were far too full of venom to be at home within an educational institution. Through the castle windows in both the morning and the evening, Hagrid could often be seen toiling away on the grounds and clearing out the ever increasing mounds of snow that were falling upon the pathways with a shovel in a vain attempt to keep them clear. It was not unusual to experience an early winter in the far north, however even for the harsh climate this winter had begun particularly early this year and there were none who could explain the strange phenomenon; it was as though winter itself had simply decided that it would like to drop by unannounced, as if it were a distant relative that had suddenly come for Christmas.</p><p>The biting cold of the harsh winds and the ever-souring conditions on the grounds did little to deter Oliver Wood, the quidditch Captain, from pushing his team through grueling training sessions in the early hours of the morning and it hadn’t taken Skyla very long to discover that the older Gryffindor girls had been wary of Wood for a good reason; the boy was relentless in his desire to lift the Quidditch Cup. She found with dismay that despite the worsening conditions outside, Wood was consistently demanding earlier and earlier training sessions for the team, often dragging them all out of bed from the very moment that the sun had begun to peek out into the sky (and even on mornings where the sun itself got to sleep in for longer than they did). The ground was often muddy and slippery, the air was always frosty and Skyla discovered the hard way that it was extremely unpleasant to fly on an icy broom; she hadn’t considered the implications before the sudden cold snap had set in, but after her first snowbound flight she had decided that in the future she would wear several pairs of underwear at once when flying in the cold. The older girls taught her how to apply a heating charm to the handle, but, such things only provided relief for so long before the windswept cold eventually overcame the spell and rendered it useless.</p><p>“You look freezing!” Hermione exclaimed with shock after Skyla returned to the common room from a particularly cold training session on a painfully early Sunday morning. Hermione was the only one in the common room and it was unlikely that they would see anyone else arise for several hours as it was only the truly unhinged, like Wood and his band of lunatics, who would remove themselves from a warm and comfortable bed without a life-threatening reason. Gryffindor may be the house of the brave, but only the quidditch players could be considered that certifiably insane.</p><p>Hermione motioned the shivering Skyla over towards her and lifted her cosy-looking duvet up, indicating for Skyla to join her under the blanket. She didn’t need telling twice; Skyla quickly shook off her jacket and let it fall to the floor before scooting under the blanket with her teeth chattering and her knees shaking. She let out a satisfied groan as she slipped underneath Hermione’s large quilt, and proceeded to bury herself up to her neck in the comfortable and warm material that embraced her like the best, warmest hug that she had ever received. Hermione gasped when Skyla’s body pressed up against her own; the poor girl was positively frozen from flying in the icy winds.</p><p>“This is getting ridiculous,” Hermione commented as she attempted to warm up Skyla by rubbing her arms rapidly for her under the blanket, “you need to talk to Wood. This can’t go on.”</p><p>“It’s only for one more week,” Skyla said through chattering teeth, “one more week and then we don’t play until after the holidays.”</p><p>“He won’t have a team if he keeps this up,” Hermione said crossly.</p><p>Skyla didn’t have the energy to argue and simply snuggled herself into the blanket with a contented sigh. Hermione shifted slightly to give her some more room and within a few minutes, Skyla was fast asleep with her head resting on Hermione’s shoulder and her hand sitting on Hermione’s thigh under the blanket. Hermione couldn’t help but smile at the girl and before long, she too had fallen asleep. </p><p>Thankfully Neville had been the first one down, having gotten used to an early rise these days, and he had delicately woken them both up. Hermione quickly, and sheepishly, split apart from Skyla while wiping a little drool off her chin with her sleeve in embarrassment. Neville didn’t say anything about it, but his coy smirk told her exactly what he was thinking.</p><p>“It was just cold,” Hermione explained, “and Skyla was freezing, and we fell asleep.”</p><p>“Uh huh.”</p><p>“It’s not like we-oh, forget it.”</p><p>“Hey I’m not judging. It was very cute.”</p><p>Hermione simply rolled her eyes at him, while Skyla looked back and forth between the two with confusion on her face.</p><p>The day of the ‘Ice Bowl’ (as Fred and George had begun calling it) eventually arrived and Skyla found herself in the brand new and unnerving position of getting ready for her first ever game of quidditch. It would have been a daunting enough experience for her without all of the added pressure, yet as she sat in the Gryffindor changing rooms underneath the stands and listened to the muffled chanting and cheering of the crowd above, she felt rather nauseous and she wondered if she might actually throw up when she stepped onto the field. What a first outing that would be. An announcers voice was being blasted across the stands by some kind of magical megaphone and every so often, a few cheers could be heard being called out to the winds as he successful riled up the audience, which only served to add extra pressure to Skyla as she knew the ‘fans’ were getting incredibly worked up.</p><p>“This is terrifying,” Skyla admitted to Wood as the team sat together, dressed and waiting to go, “I’m so anxious.”</p><p>“It’s alright,” he said kindly, “I was scared of my first game too.”</p><p>“Did it all go okay?”</p><p>“Dunno,” Wood shrugged, “took a bludger to the head five minutes in and woke up in hospital a week later.”</p><p>Skyla nervously laughed, but no-one else did and she slowly faltered, realising that he wasn’t joking in the slightest.</p><p>“That’s… that’s not likely to happen is it?”</p><p>“In this weather?” Wood said thoughtfully, “I’d say we’re likely to lose someone at some point. Just make sure it isn’t you; we can afford to lose a chaser or beater but we can’t win if our seeker gets knocked out-”</p><p>“Are you quite finished scaring the poor girl?” Angelina asked incredulously as she threw a towel at Wood’s head.</p><p>“Don’t worry Skyla,” Katie said comfortingly as she moved over and sat next to her, “we got your back. Just remember that.”</p><p>“Let us worry about the match,” Alicia said as she appeared on Skyla’s other side and threw an arm around Skyla’s shoulders, “you just focus on catching the snitch, okay? We’ll keep the attention of the beaters, they’ll be too busy dealing with us to worry about de-seating you.”</p><p>“That’s not what the gameplan-”</p><p>Wood trailed off as the three girls stared at him intimidatingly, until he eventually sighed and stopped talking.</p><p>“Just focus on doing your thing,” Angelina said firmly to Skyla, “you do that, and you’ll be great. We’ve seen you make some really great catches in training and it’s no different out there, okay?”</p><p>“Okay…”</p><p>“We’re up, let’s go,” Wood said as he heard the announcer start to rile the crowd in preparation for the Gryffindors’ entrance.</p><p>With a nervous gulp, Skyla allowed herself to be guided out to the field by the other Gryffindor girls, Alicia with one arm still wrapped protectively around Skyla’s shoulder. Wood led the team at the front and as soon as he had stepped out onto the pitch, an overwhelming blast of noise hit their ears and she was stunned as cheers from the crowd greeted them, alongside a very excitable commentator.</p><p>It was only in that moment that Skyla realised just how big quidditch was at Hogwarts.</p><p>“AND HERE COMES GRYFFINDOR! Led by the ever industrious Oliver Wood, veteran keeper and leader of the team looking to bounce back from a rather ordinary season, it must be said-”</p><p>Wood scowled slightly at the introduction (or more specifically, the mention of their disastrous season last year), but he set his jaw and gave a brief wave to the crowd before heading towards the center of the pitch where the Ravenclaws were already waiting for them.</p><p>“And here we have the lovely chasers of Gryffindor! Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet! Look at that bunch, have you ever seen a group of more attractive-”</p><p>“Lee Jordan! I will remind you that this is meant to be professional commentary!” McGonagall berated sternly from beside the boy who was commentating, her voice echoing through the megaphone and causing a few laughs from the crowd.</p><p>“-I’m just speaking facts, Professor! Johnson, Bell and Spinnet are all veteran players from last year who are looking to prove that they are much better players than their record so far suggests! Alongside them are Fred and George Weasley returning once again, hoping to settle a few grudges with those beaters bats I’d wager!”</p><p>“When they say your name, give a few waves,” Alicia said to Skyla, indicating up towards the Gryffindor stands.</p><p>“And last, but certainly not least, the newest addition to the line-up AND the youngest seeker in a century… it’s the one, the only, SKYLA POTTER!”</p><p>A deafening cheer rang out from the Gryffindor stands and Skyla sheepishly gave a few waves up to the stands, before Alicia gently guided her over towards the center of the pitch and indicated for her to take her starting position.</p><p>“This could be history in the making right here ladies and gentlemen; it is well known that Skyla’s father, the legendary James Potter, played right here and set a dozen school records that still remain in place! Will his first-born daughter be able to continue his legacy?”</p><p>“Geeze, no pressure,” Skyla grumbled. </p><p>“Ignore the commentary,” Katie advised from beside her, “block it out. You’ll play better.”</p><p>“Right.”</p><p>She did her best to stop listening to the commentary (although Lee Jordan was quite effective at getting and keeping her attention) and she watched Wood walk out into the middle of the field to shake the hand of the Ravenclaw Captain; an older boy that she didn’t know.</p><p>“Now I want a nice clean game,” Madam Hooch said firmly as the boys shook hands in front of her, “no nonsense today; no elbows, no punches, no spells.”</p><p>“Of course,” Wood said with a nod.</p><p>“We’ll win fair and square,” The Ravenclaw Captain said with a wink.</p><p>“MOUNT UP!”</p><p>Skyla’s heart was racing as she swung her leg over her broom and gulped, her lips turning dry. The wind was intensifying above them and dark clouds were already starting to form in the sky, as though it could sense her own anxiety levels and had decided to drive them even higher. She knew that she had to end the game quickly or risk getting into a messy, scrappy game in the elements so she watched carefully as Hooch waved her wand and released the bludgers into the air, followed by the golden snitch. She tried to track the snitch’s location so she could get a headstart but within a single darting motion, the snitch had disappeared into the howling winds and she cursed out loud as the snitch was lost to the sky.</p><p>Hooch waved her wand once again and the large maroon quaffle was sent rocketing high up into the sky. With a sharp blow on her whistle, the game had begun and both teams kicked off hard from the ground, taking off into the sky and quickly darting to their assigned positions. Skyla watched Angelina dart up vertically with astonishing speed to contest the airborne quaffle while Alicia and Katie flanked her, waiting for the hand-off. Skyla turned her attention away and began to roam the pitch, looking back and forth for any sign of the snitch. She cursed as she realised that this was going to be extremely difficult; a mixture of sleet and snow was falling around them and the steady downfall was being blown about by almost horizontal winds. It would be hard enough to keep herself stable on her broom, let alone find and secure the snitch in these conditions and they were only predicted to worsen as the day continued.</p><p>“And they’re off! Johnson and Robinson go head to head for the quaffle and… it’s Johnson who gets there first, knocking the ball to Bell who makes her way up the sideline… but she’s blocked! Taylor makes her duck out of the way of a powerful bludger blow and it’s Cooper with the steal, heading towards center-pitch but Spinnet is waiting with the block, that’s gonna hurt-ooh! She misses! What a feint by Cooper and he’s heading for the goal with just the keeper to beat… HE SHOOTS, HE-OH WHAT A SAVE! Wood with the one handed deflection and now it’s back with Bell, and back to Johnson, she’s looking for the handoff-”</p><p>Skyla watched on in awe as the two teams collided ferociously, shoulder-checking and bumping brooms while they fought for the ball; she hadn’t realised from the training sessions alone just how fast paced quidditch was but now that there was a game on the line and points to play for, no-one was holding back and she was starting to understand why first years didn’t usually play. Both teams’ beaters were pelting the dangerous bludgers from the edges of the pitch down into the center with a vengeance and even as she watched, a wayward bludger collided painfully with Katie’s ankle, causing her to cry out loudly in pain.</p><p>“OOHH! THAT’S GONNA HURT IN THE MORNING!”</p><p>Skyla hadn’t realised just how dangerous the game actually was but as she watched Katie continue flying on and playing with anger on her face at what appeared to be a fractured, or at least sprained ankle, she realised that she had deeply underestimated what she had gotten herself into.</p><p>“Skyla!”</p><p>Wood yelled out to her from the Gryffindor goalposts, getting her attention. She looked back to see Wood making a circular motion with his finger, indicating for her to keep roaming the skies. </p><p>“Don’t be a target!”</p><p>With a nod, she took off again and began to roam, searching for the snitch while keeping herself moving in the air to avoid tempting the Ravenclaw beaters with a free shot at her skull.</p><p>After twenty minutes had passed, her nerves had begun to settle down and her anxiety was quickly being replaced with frustration. She couldn’t see the snitch anywhere and the weather was only getting worse; she could hardly even see in front of her and she hadn’t even seen the Ravenclaw seeker all game. Her only comfort was the fact that their seeker was clearly having the same issues as she was, since they hadn’t caught the snitch yet either.</p><p>“GRYFFINDOR SCORES! They lead Sixty to thirty...”</p><p>Skyla was starting to lose feeling in her fingers and toes as she roamed, cursing the elements.</p><p>“RAVENCLAW SCORES! What a play! Forty to sixty…”</p><p>Was that the snitch? No… no, that was someone’s jewelry in the crowd…</p><p>“RAVENCLAW SCORES! Great set play there! Fifty to sixty…”</p><p>Maybe it was at a lower height? She dropped down until she was roaming below the field of play, squinting against the wind as she peered around aimlessly.</p><p>“GRYFFINDOR SCORES! Seventy to fifty…”</p><p>Maybe it was at a higher height? She weighed up the risk of freezing by flying higher, but she eventually decided to have a quick look. As she gained a higher altitude, a momentary lapse in the rain caused her stomach to drop as she just barely spotted the glimmer of gold against the outline of the Slytherin stands on the other side of the pitch. With her heart racing, she quickly flattened herself out on her broom before darting after the golden ball as fast as she could.</p><p>“POTTER’S SEEN THE SNITCH! REPEAT, POTTER HAS SEEN THE SNITCH! SHE’S OFF AND CHANG IS IN HOT PURSUIT!”</p><p>The crowd gasped loudly at the sudden movement, but Skyla did her best to drown it out, focusing purely on forcing as much speed into her broom as she could. She was gaining on the snitch, but she was so focused on the tiny ball that she failed to see the blurry mass coming at her from the side.</p><p>“OHH! A HUGE, GAME-SAVING BODYCHECK FROM CHANG!”</p><p>Skyla was rocked by a surprise blow as the Ravenclaw seeker came smashing into her side with her shoulder and she was almost knocked entirely off her broom. She managed to right herself after a moment and looked around in shock, to see an extraordinarily pretty girl of oriental descent smiling at her with long black and wet hair plastered all over her face.</p><p>“Nothing personal!” The girl called out with a grin as she tucked her hair away, before turning and darting off to resume her own hunt for the snitch.</p><p>Skyla looked back but the snitch was well and truly gone. Frustrated, she was forced to start her search all over again.</p><p>“Was that even legal?” Skyla called out to Wood as she passed by, who just nodded grimly.</p><p>“Shoulder is fine!” he called back, “elbows and hands are not! Just get her back next time!”</p><p>Skyla grumbled and plotted her revenge, however she had no reason to simply fly over and try to batter the girl when she could be looking for the snitch instead, so she was forced to wait patiently for her opportunity while scanning the horizon once again.</p><p>It took another grueling twenty minutes of icy gameplay before the snitch finally showed itself once more. This time however, it wasn’t Skyla who spotted it.</p><p>“AND CHANG IS OFF, SHE’S SEEN IT! CHANG HAS SEEN THE SNITCH!”</p><p>With her heart sinking in her chest, Skyla turned around to see the Ravenclaw seeker darting off after the golden ball, and she quickly realised that there was no way she was going to be able to intercept her from the angle the snitch was taking. Still, she had to at least try so she flattened herself out on her broom, forcing as much willpower into the old wood as she could.</p><p>“POTTER IS ON THE HUNT! SHE’S- YES SHE’S GAINING! SHE’S ALMOST CAUGHT UP! LOOK AT THAT SPEED FROM AN OLD CLEANSWEEP!”</p><p>Skyla felt herself physically fatiguing from how much energy she was pushing into the broom to try and make it go faster, however it seemed to be working and it seemed that luck was finally on her side as the snitch suddenly changed angle, giving Skyla a chance to catch up. Eventually, she managed to get into a side-by-side position with the Ravenclaw girl and the two jostled shoulders and bumped against each other while both extended out their hands, their fingertips stretching as far as they could towards the snitch.</p><p>“IT’S NECK AND NECK! WHO’S GOING TO GET IT? I CAN HARDLY WATCH!”</p><p>Skyla desperately willed every ounce of energy that she had left into the broom, begging and pleading with herself as she summoned all her reserves. She barely managed to scrape just enough speed out to begin edging herself out no more than an inch in front of the Ravenclaw girl, but it was all she needed. She stretched her fingers out as far as she could, the tip of her index finger just barely scraping the side of the golden ball-</p><p>CRACK.</p><p>A deafening sound could be heard echoing through the stands and with horror, Skyla looked down to see that the handle of her broom had split clean in two. She realised with growing panic that the old broom simply couldn’t handle the amount of energy that she was forcing into it, and without any further notice the broom suddenly stopped resisting the wind and she was blasted to the side by the howling gale like a leaf in a tornado.</p><p>“LOOK OUT! SHE’S GOING DOWN!”</p><p>She felt herself being swept along with the wind and she was sent flying off from her broken broom completely, the broken wood simply flailing wildly in the air and serving no more purpose than that of an old twig. She stared down with a growing sense of vertigo as she realised there was absolutely nothing between her and the ground below. Thankfully, the ground of the quidditch pitch was heavily enchanted to prevent deadly falls and it would slow her descent on the way down-</p><p>“SHE’S GOING OUT OF BOUNDS! SHE’S HEADING FOR THE FOREST!”</p><p>A sickening feeling began to grow within her stomach as she realised that with the powerful wind blowing her to the side, she wasn’t going to land on the soft enchanted grass of the quidditch pitch; she was heading straight over the barrier and out into the forest, to land on whatever gruesome fate awaited her at the bottom. Her mind was suddenly filled with imagery of being skewered onto a sharp branch from a tree, or smashing her head onto a jagged rock. She began to try and reach over to pull her wand from her forearm holster that she wore under her quidditch robes, but the wind and powerful force of her fall kept knocking her hand away; not that she had any idea about what to do even if she had her wand out.</p><p>The sound of the announcer and the crowd faded away into silence as Skyla realised that this was how she was going to die. A tragic death in a terrible accident, sent rocketing down into the forest like an airplane crash landing or a doomed space shuttle re-entering orbit and plummeting to its unfortunate fate. Unlike space explorers who were willing to give their lives for the growth of humanity however, she was giving her life for the game of quidditch. Somewhat less glorious of an ending.</p><p>Just as she was about to land within the canopy of the forest and strike the treetops, she felt something grab hold of her shoulders and pull her up sharply, briefly halting her descent. She looked up in shock to see that the Ravenclaw girl had just barely managed to grab her in time, yet she herself had become unstable from the extra weight and her broom refused to cooperate.</p><p>“I can’t-!”</p><p>The girl struggled to keep hold of Skyla in the air, yet their combined weight was too much for the broom and it suddenly took a nose dive of its own, sending them both crashing down into the forest. Both girls cried out loudly as the small branches whipped and cut painfully against their faces and arms, and they both smacked painfully into the thick branch of a giant oak tree before dropping down to the ground with heavy thuds.</p><p>Skyla rolled over onto her back and gasped for air as she stared up at the leaves above her while systemic shock ravaging her body, and she simply tried to comprehend the fact that she was alive. Her heart was threatening to burst out of her chest and she panted for as much oxygen as she could force into her lungs, running on nothing but pure adrenaline as the steady dripping of water fell down onto her face from the branches above.</p><p>“Holy shit!”</p><p>Skyla gasped for a moment in shock, however a cry of pain got her attention and she looked over to see that the Ravenclaw girl was also lying on her back, clutching at her arm and whimpering in obvious pain. With more effort than she had ever used in her life, Skyla forced her body to roll over onto her knees and slowly crawled over towards the Ravenclaw girl.</p><p>“Are you okay?”</p><p>“My arm,” the girl gasped in pain, “I think I broke it when I landed! Argh…!”</p><p>Skyla looked down and grimaced in sympathy; she wasn’t an expert on human anatomy by any means but she was pretty sure that an arm wasn’t supposed to bend like that.</p><p>“Just hang on!” Skyla said quickly, “someone will be coming soon!”</p><p>The girl rolled back and let out a combined cry of frustration, anger and pain.</p><p>“You saved me,” Skyla said, still reeling with shock as she tried to process just what the hell had happened.</p><p>“Happy to-argh!-help!”</p><p>“What’s your name?” Skyla asked, hovering over the girl and wondering what she was supposed to do about the arm.</p><p>“Cho,” she gasped out in-between her laboured breaths, “Cho Chang.”</p><p>“Thanks Cho…” Skyla said quietly.</p><p>“I’d say anytime,” Cho let out with a dry, pained laugh, “but I really hope we never do this again…”</p><p>Skyla stared at her for a moment before letting out a choked laugh.</p><p>“People would have seen us fall,” Skyla said reassuringly, “I bet they’re coming any-”</p><p>The hair on the back of Skyla’s neck suddenly stood up and like a wild animal in danger, Skyla suddenly tensed. Adrenaline began to flood her body once again and she quickly sprung to her feet in fear, pulling her wand out of her holster and looking around wildly.</p><p>“What is it?” Cho asked in a pained, but worried, voice.</p><p>“I… I don’t know,” Skyla said quietly as she looked around, “something is watching us…”</p><p>“Something?”</p><p>“... or someone.”</p><p>Skyla peered around into the unnaturally dark forest, but she saw nothing. Had the forest always been this dark? Wasn’t she looking up at the leaves above moment ago…? She peered up and she could see nothing but darkness overhead, as though midnight had suddenly fallen upon them within the last few moments. Even the rain seemed to have stopped falling as an eerie silence suddenly embraced them, closing around them like an oppressive and impenetrable fog.</p><p>She felt it before she saw it; something was approaching.</p><p>“Cho quick, get up!”</p><p>“Arghh…”</p><p>Cho tried to scramble to her feet without using her arms, but Skyla had no time to help her. She felt a terrifying presence approaching within the dark and after a moment of unsettling silence, two scarlet eyes slowly began to appear through the dense trees in front of her. She felt the blood rush from her face and terror gripped her as she shakily raised her wand in the direction of the eyes, though she had no idea what spell she would even cast. Her heart was pounding like a war drum and she could feel her pulse radiating throughout her neck and her wrists as her body prepared to enter fight or flight.</p><p>“Who-who are you…?”</p><p>The eyes said nothing to her as they observed her and the growing darkness merely continued to encroach down upon them, dulling their senses.</p><p>“Skyla? What is it?” Cho asked in fear, “what’s happening?”</p><p>“I don’t know! The… the eyes, right there!” Skyla exclaimed, “where my wand is pointed!”</p><p>“What? But t-there’s… there’s nothing there…”</p><p>Skyla shook her head; Cho must have been delirious from the pain as there were quite clearly two very unnatural red eyes staring directly at her, looking directly into her soul as the forest around her began to turn black. Her chest began to tighten and she began to find it hard to breath; it was as if the darkness itself was a noxious gas that threatened to asphyxiate her as it grew darker and denser around her.</p><p>The eyes began to move toward her and Skyla saw the shadowy outline of what appeared to a man take shape around the eyes, though it didn’t quite appear to be entirely human.</p><p>“S-Stay back!”</p><p>The eyes ignored her and continued to approach without fear. Skyla raised her wand.</p><p>“Expelliarmus!”</p><p>Skyla sent a powerful disarming charm at the figure however the jet of scarlet light, the same shade of colour as the terrifying eyes, passed straight through the figure with no visible effect. Terror sank into the pits of her stomach as she heard the figure finally speak in a warbled voice that chilled her to the bone and caused her teeth to chatter in fear.</p><p>“... Skyla Potter…”</p><p>“N-No,” Skyla gasped in fear as she began to walk backwards with her wand pointed at the unknown entity. The eyes continued to approach and Skyla took an awkward step back; her heel collided with a stump that sent her sprawling onto the ground. Her wand went flying out of her hand as she hit the ground and it was immediately scooped up and swallowed by the darkness.</p><p>Skyla slowly looked up to see that the eyes were now mere inches from her face, causing her blood to run cold as she stared directly into what could only be described as the eyes of hell.</p><p>“... you…”</p><p>The warbled voice cut straight her ears and into her very soul.</p><p>“... are mine.”</p><p>“No… no… NO!”</p><p>The figure leaned down towards her, getting closer and closer until the eyes were almost upon her, lowering down until the darkness around her swallowed her body entirely, and she saw nothing more.</p><p>***************</p><p>Skyla gasped as she suddenly woke in a panic, flailing wildly at the air.</p><p>“Skyla!?” </p><p>The astonished voice of Hermione cried out in shock as she tried to grab hold of Skyla’s flailing limbs and hold the panicking girl in place.</p><p>“Madam Pomfrey! MADAM POMFREY!”</p><p>The medi-witch immediately came rushing out from her office and quickly waved her wand, causing Skyla to stop struggling as the body-binding spell stiffened her entire body and held her in position.</p><p>“Skyla, calm down. You’re in the hospital wing,” the experienced medi-witch said in a slow, steady voice, “you’ve been unconscious for awhile. I’m going to release the spell holding you in place but you need to try and relax, okay? You’re safe here. Blink twice if you understand.”</p><p>Skyla took a few breaths in and blinked twice, before Madam Pomfrey waved her wand once again and released her binding.</p><p>“Skyla! Are you okay?” Hermione asked quickly.</p><p>“Y-yeah,” Skyla said in a shaky voice as she took in the scene around her, “sorry I-I kind of freaked out-”</p><p>“Completely understandable,” Pomfrey said with a nod, “a common reaction to a sudden awakening. Now, look at me for a moment; follow this light.”</p><p>Skyla sat for a few minutes and gradually calmed down as Madam Pomfrey conducted a series of vigorous assessments of both her physical, and mental, state. She struggled to recall what had happened, but after a few moments the memories began to slowly return to her mind.</p><p>“Cho!” Skyla said suddenly, “Cho! Is she-”</p><p>“Miss Chang is fine,” Pomfrey said calmly, “she had a broken arm; child’s play for me to fix. She wasn’t in here for more than a few hours.”</p><p>“That’s good,” Skyla said with relief.</p><p>“You however I am more worried about,” Pomfrey admitted with a slight frown, “I have no idea what caused you to remain unconscious for two days and I can only suspect unknown head trauma. Miss Chang was unaware of what happened to you, since she had been focused on her own injury.”</p><p>“Wait. I’ve been out for two days?”</p><p>“Give or take a few hours,” Pomfrey said, “tell me; what do you remember?”</p><p>“We… we crashed into the forest,” Skyla said slowly as she remembered, “Cho saved me, but she still got hurt. Then… then the darkness came and… and the eyes-”</p><p>Skyla’s heart rate began to skyrocket and she began to hyperventilate, working herself up into such a panic that Pomfrey had to pull out her wand.</p><p>“Calm down Skyla,” Pomfrey said clearly, “or I’ll have to bind you again.”</p><p>Skyla nodded and tried her best to slow her elevated breathing.</p><p>“That’s good, long deep breaths, there you go…”</p><p>After a few moments, Skyla let out a final shaky sigh.</p><p>“You’re safe here, Skyla,” Pomfrey said softly, “you can relax. What were you saying?”</p><p>“Right… right. This, strange darkness came over the forest and I felt… I felt terrified. Then these eyes appeared in the forest and came for me, I tried to defend myself but my spell went straight through and then he got close and-”</p><p>“You are saying that something attacked you in the forest?” Pomfrey asked, “a creature?”</p><p>“A… man,” Skyla said with a frown, “except he… he wasn’t really. He was like a shadow.”</p><p>“Hm. Well it was Remus who found you,” Pomfrey said thoughtfully, “and he didn’t mention any kind of wounds or injuries, nor did he see anyone else. It was just you unconscious, and Miss Chang who was quite distracted by her injury.”</p><p>Skyla shook her head.</p><p>“It was right there,” she said with a frown, “he must have seen it-”</p><p>“Trust me Skyla,” Pomfrey said confidently, “if Remus didn’t detect the presence of anyone, there was likely no-one there. He… has an uncanny ability to sniff out intruders. It’s possible that your memories may be muddied due to the trauma; it might be wise to keep you under observation for a few days.”</p><p>Skyla frowned at that, however said nothing further as Pomfrey left her alone with Hermione.</p><p>“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Hermione said with relief as she moved over to hug Skyla, “I was so worried.”</p><p>“I’m fine,” Skyla said quietly as she returned the hug, “for now at least.”</p><p>“For now?”</p><p>“Until that… thing comes back,” she said with a shudder, “I’ve never been so scared.”</p><p>“Thing?”</p><p>“It was… it was like a ghost,” Skyla said as she struggled to think of the right words, “except… it wasn’t. It was… well, it was scary. It was a shadow and it was like I was looking into hell itself.”</p><p>“Skyla…” Hermione said hesitantly, “please don’t say things like that, it scares me.”</p><p>“It’s the truth,” Skyla sighed. She paused for a moment and waited, but Hermione didn’t say anything.</p><p>“You don’t believe me, do you?”</p><p>“Madam Pomfrey warned me that you might behave a little strange when you woke up,” Hermione replied with a sad smile, “she says that sometimes the mind keeps itself shut down to protect itself, and when people wake up they might be different for awhile until the brain has a chance to work itself out and resort its memories. Anyway, best not to stress about it now. You just rest, okay?”</p><p>Skyla lay back in bed, feeling agitated. She didn’t like the way they were both implying that she was lying, as she knew that she wasn’t. She was telling the truth; it all really happened…</p><p>… didn’t it?</p><p>***************</p><p>It was over a week before Madam Pomfrey was finally content to release Skyla from the hospital wing, and that was only after (based upon Hermione’s pleading advice) Skyla stopped talking about the strange eyes and the creeping darkness of the forest. She had grit her teeth slightly and told the nurse that she had been having strange dreams and getting confused, but that she felt much clearer on things now and she could remember what actually happened perfectly.</p><p>Skyla had even begun to doubt her own story after the constant strange looks that she had been receiving from Hermione and Pomfrey, and she had refrained from bringing up the subject again to either of them. She couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed however that Hermione didn’t believe her, although she knew that Hermione was likely just scared of the things that Skyla was saying and buying into Pomfrey’s theory that Skyla had hit her head at some point.</p><p>Still, the knowledge that the strange creature was out there somewhere waiting for her was rather terrifying and she found herself unable to sleep most nights. Even when she did sleep, she had strange nightmares and for some reason, she frequently dreamed of the orphanage where she had spent the first few years of her life. Dreading going to sleep in the evening, she instead began to stay up late to ‘catch up’ on her study as an excuse to avoid sleeping, even though most of the time she simply sat staring blankly at the same page for an hour, thinking about the strange eyes and the unsettling darkness.</p><p>Surprisingly it had been Neville that had helped her the most when she had eventually confessed her concerns to him one evening, while Hermione was in the shower.</p><p>“-I’m just really scared, Nev,” Skyla admitted quietly as she finished her tale, “Hermione doesn’t believe me and I don’t know what to do.”</p><p>“That’s really concerning,” Neville said with a frown, “I’m surprised that Hermione isn’t on your side.”</p><p>Skyla sighed.</p><p>“I don’t think she’s picking a side exactly,” Skyla said sadly, “she’s not like that. I just think she is taking Pomfrey’s word since she is the expert.”</p><p>“I mean, there might be something to that,” Neville pointed out.</p><p>“I know what I saw,” Skyla said quietly, “it feels like I’m going crazy but… I know what I saw.”</p><p>“I mean it sounds crazy, I will be honest,” Neville said thoughtfully, “but… magic is strange, and magical creatures are even stranger. It could be an illusion that something gave you, or maybe even a potion or something…”</p><p>“What should I do?” Skyla asked desperately.</p><p>“I think… maybe you should talk to someone who knows more about this kind of stuff than me,” Neville said, “maybe Dumbledore?”</p><p>Skyla shook her head, “there’s no way I’m bringing this to Dumbledore. I still don’t trust him, not with something like this.”</p><p>“Well then, I don’t know,” Neville said quietly, “are there any adults that you can trust? Someone with experience in this kind of dark magic or something?”</p><p>“I don’t-”</p><p>She paused as she realised that she did have an adult she could talk to who knew about this kind of stuff, for the first time in her life. She had been so used to being alone that she had almost forgotten that she wasn’t.</p><p>“Neville?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“You’re brilliant.”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>Skyla quickly began to rummage around in her backpack for some parchment and a quill. After hastily scribbling a messy letter, she jumped to her feet, startling Neville.</p><p>“I’m gonna go send this, I’ll be back soon. Cover for me!”</p><p>“Cover? With what?”</p><p>“Anything!”</p><p>Skyla sent him an apologetic look before darting out from the common room in a rush, heading straight for the Owlery.</p><p>Neville simply sighed. Was Skyla really going to be okay…?</p><p>***************</p><p>“Dear Bleeding Eyes,</p><p>I need to speak with the puppy, urgently. Can you arrange it somehow?</p><p>Skyla.”</p><p>“The puppy?” Sirius scoffed indignantly, “of all the things that I’ve been called over the years…”</p><p>Bleeding Eyes offered nothing but a small smirk as he waited for Sirius’ response.</p><p>“She has, uh, interesting handwriting,” Sirius commented with a slight frown as he attempted to decipher the remaining words. As fond as he had grown of his goddaughter so far, she truly did have some awful handwriting. He hoped that he might get a chance to help her with that one day. Still, it sounded like she was in some kind of trouble and he would be remiss if he didn’t take the opportunity to show her that she could depend on him in her time of need.</p><p>“Okay,” he began thoughtfully, “send her this back…”</p><p>***************</p><p>“Dissendium!”</p><p>Skyla gulped as she followed the instructions in Bleeding Eyes’ letter and tapped the strange statue against the wall with her wand, which caused the hump of the statue to open just wide enough for her to squeeze behind it. She slipped into the tight, narrow passageway and stumbled down a steep slope for a moment until she found her footing, and proceeded to creep down the slightly unnerving tunnel. Sirius had given her very clearly instructions on what to do and now, all she had to do was wait for Sirius to arrive at the designated time. It was late out, but it wasn’t quite past curfew yet so she shouldn’t technically get into trouble (although she had no intention of being caught regardless if she could help it).</p><p>A few minutes later she eventually spotted someone approaching from the other side of the tunnel and her heart skipped a beat as she realised it was Sirius. She was slightly nervous about meeting him again, however as he got closer, with his wand illuminating the dark, she realised that he looked quite different than the last time she had seen him.</p><p>“Hello Sirius!” she said excitedly, “you look really nice!”</p><p>“Hey kiddo,” he said fondly, “thanks. Cut it myself.”</p><p>Sirius had clearly had a shave and a haircut as despite his crouched and awkward posture, he looked quite dashing and much more composed than the last time she had seen him. His formerly long and shaggy hair had been trimmed down to a short and purposefully messy look, and his rugged beard was now a neat trim that accentuated his features quite well. He still looked a little roguish but it suited him; Skyla had to hold back a giggle as she thought that he looked a bit like Wolverine from the comics she had once read, all he needed was the knuckle-blades.</p><p>“I haven’t had my hair cut since I was little,” Skyla admitted.</p><p>“I can tell.”</p><p>Skyla scoffed at his comment and paused for a split-second, before eventually moving in to embrace him in a hug. He happily hugged her back, however after a moment he pulled away with a slight frown on his face.</p><p>“What did your father promise to do to me if I didn’t look after you?” he asked, “in your letter?”</p><p>“Huh? Uh… he… promised to haunt you for a thousand years,” Skyla replied, confused.</p><p>“Good. Just checking that you are definitely you,” Sirius explained, “if you haven’t seen anyone for awhile you should always check that they are actually who they say they are by asking a question only that only you two would know the answer to.”</p><p>“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that,” Skyla said in surprise.</p><p>“Polyjuice potion is a common way that people disguise themselves as others,” Sirius said with a grim nod, “you should always be careful of that.”</p><p>“Huh. Thanks. Well then… uh… what was the story you told me you did to your family years ago?”</p><p>Sirius thought back with a slight grin forming on his face.</p><p>“I told you about how I rode the flying motorcycle down Diagon Alley,” he smirked, “and they never forgot it. Nor did I.”</p><p>Skyla nodded happily.</p><p>“It’s great to see you again kid,” Sirius said fondly, “but why did you message me? What’s going on?”</p><p>Skyla took a deep breath and explained what had happened, all the way from her selection to the quidditch team, through to the events of the match, right through to the terrifying apparition she had seen in the forest. She didn’t know exactly why, but for some reason, more and more details kept spilling out the more she talked. It was like a floodgate had been opened and Sirius simply sat there and watched her carefully as the words kept pouring out of her.</p><p>“-and I was just so scared,” she admitted with tears forming in her eyes, “but I know I’m meant to be in Gryffindor and then I thought that my parents wouldn’t want me to be a coward but I thought I was going to die and then no-one believed me, Hermione didn’t believe me and I don’t know why but that really hurts and-”</p><p>“Hey hey, it’s alright,” Sirius said gently as he pulled the girl towards him and embraced her in a tight hug.</p><p>“I think you were very brave and it sounds like you were facing something that was far more than a first year could ever handle. You stood up to it and tried to fight, which is more than most would do.”</p><p>“I don’t even know anymore if I’m just crazy,” she sniffed, “that’s what the others thought when I told them. I know they think that.”</p><p>“I’ll admit it sounds wild,” Sirius said thoughtfully, as he pulled away and peered into Skyla’s slightly teary eyes, “but I don’t think you would make something like this up. From what I do know about you, you don’t seem like the type to try and invent things for attention.”</p><p>“The last thing I want is more attention,” Skyla said with a sniffle, “I get enough of that.”</p><p>“And I don’t think you would have called me out here if you didn’t feel concerned about it,” Sirius said with a frown.</p><p>“I’m really scared,” Skyla admitted, “I keep having nightmares and seeing… horrible things.”</p><p>“It’s gotta be either some kind of magical creature, or a dark curse,” Sirius mused, “describe the ghost to me. Or shadow, whatever it was.”</p><p>“It… didn’t have a body,” Skyla explained, “and there was just creeping darkness everywhere it went. And it had horrible, red eyes with tiny slits for pupils, kind of like a snake.”</p><p>Sirius paused at that detail but... surely just a coincidence.</p><p>“And did it do anything? Say anything?”</p><p>“It said my name,” Skyla whispered, “it knew me. It said… it said ‘you are mine’.”</p><p>Sirius stared at her intently as realisation dawned.</p><p>“The plan.”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“It has to be.”</p><p>Skyla was slightly startled as Sirius began to think intently, worrying her slightly.</p><p>“Sirius?”</p><p>“Listen to me Skyla,” Sirius said suddenly, “whatever you do, you cannot go back into the forest, okay? There are protections on the castle that will keep you safe within the grounds and he cannot touch you here, but out there…”</p><p>“He? You know him?”</p><p>“I have a suspicion,” Sirius said, “but I hope I’m wrong. Listen, the most important thing right now is that you keep safe, keep away from the forest, and above all else-”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“-you tell no-one of this.”</p><p>Skyla was surprised, as she hadn’t been expecting that.</p><p>“I can’t hide inside the castle forever though,” she said with a frown, “we have classes outside, Herbology, there’s quidditch-”</p><p>Sirius sighed softly, “I know and I know this is going to absolutely suck but… you can’t go near the forest again and you absolutely can’t tell anyone else about this. It’s really important for both of us that you keep a low profile until my trial is sorted. This is the kind of thing that they can use to discredit you; if anyone thinks that you’re seeing things that aren’t there-”</p><p>“-they’ll think I’m crazy,” she finished with understanding, “and that will make your trial much harder.”</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>Skyla stared at him for a moment before laughing, causing Sirius to give her a strange look.</p><p>“It’s just…”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“... it’s just my luck,” Skyla finished sadly, “the one person I can talk to about it is the one person I won’t be able to talk to about it.”</p><p>“I know kid,” Sirius said with regret, “but we are very close now. I just need a few more weeks to finalise a few things. I’m meeting with the Gringotts board next week and if all goes well, they will help me prepare the final touches and we can finally start taking some action.”</p><p>“And if that doesn’t go well?”</p><p>“Then it was nice seeing you again,” Sirius said with a laugh, though Skyla did not enjoy the joke.</p><p>“How did you know about this place?” Skyla asked curiously, “if there are protections in place for the castle then how-”</p><p>“Ah, well you must remember that you are talking to an original marauder,” Sirius said with a mischievous smile, “I know more about this castle than most of the staff. Your dad, Remus and I used to sneak in and out of the castle all the time. This particular tunnel leads to Hogsmeade.”</p><p>“Hogsmeade?”</p><p>“It’s a magical village,” Sirius explained, “where people like us can live open and free.”</p><p>“Sounds wonderful.”</p><p>“You’ll get to see it when you’re in your third year.”</p><p>“That’s so far away though.”</p><p>Sirius laughed.</p><p>“Maybe I can take you there?” He suggested, “you know, after everything is over. After I’m free.”</p><p>“That sounds amazing.”</p><p>Sirius smiled at her and she returned it, although only weakly.</p><p>“Sirius?”</p><p>“Yeah, kiddo?”</p><p>“Are you… are you going to be okay?”</p><p>Sirius observed her for a moment.</p><p>“I won’t lie to you,” he eventually said with a soft sigh, “if this doesn’t go well who knows what will happen to us. But I promise you, I’m going to do everything in my power to give you the life you deserve. The life we both deserve. And if there’s one thing that I do, what is it?”</p><p>“Keep a promise,” Skyla said with a small smile.</p><p>“Exactly.”</p><p>Sirius paused for a a moment before holding his arms out, and Skyla once again rushed forward to hug him tightly.</p><p>“Stay strong for me,” he said quietly, “we’re almost there. We just need to make it through this, but we can do this together.”</p><p>“Yeah… yeah okay. We can do this. I can do this.”</p><p>“That’s my girl.”</p><p>He pulled back and observed her fondly for a moment, before reaching down and ruffling her hair slightly.</p><p>“Stop it,” Skyla laughed as she batted away his hand.</p><p>“It’s just like James’ was,” Sirius scoffed, “you’re gonna hate that hair when you’re older.”</p><p>“Probably. Lavender reckons that I should do something about it to be more popular with boys.”</p><p>“Oh really?” Sirius smirked slightly, “any particular boy?”</p><p>“No. I don’t understand why she is so obsessed with impressing boys,” Skyla said with a shake of her head, “so far aside from Neville, most boys seem to be nothing but trouble.”</p><p>Sirius let out a bark of laughter, and ruffled her hair once again.</p><p>“That’s what I like to hear,” he said with a grin, “I’m fine if you keep that attitude for the next seven years.”</p><p>Skyla shrugged; she couldn’t see why it would ever change.</p><p>Sirius stood up (as far as he could within the small tunnel) and clapped her on the shoulder briefly before he made to leave, but Skyla reached out to grab his hand.</p><p>“What’s up, kiddo?”</p><p>“I-”</p><p>Skyla’s big emerald eyes met Sirius’ and he felt his heart melt at the sight of her watery and pleading gaze.</p><p>“Please come back. Please don’t leave me alone again. Promise me you won’t leave me.”</p><p>He stared down into her pleading eyes and knew that there was only one thing he could say to the poor girl.</p><p>“I promise.”</p><p>Skyla slowly let his hand go and he looked at her for a painful moment, before turning with a sad smile and making his way back down to the cellar of Honeydukes, to apparate back to London.</p><p>Skyla watched him retreat down the tunnel with a strange sense of fear in her heart as she listened to the sounds of his footsteps fading into the distance. She was struck by a strange and worrying feeling that she may never seen him again.</p><p>“No. I have to be strong,” she muttered to herself as she climbed out from behind the statue and back into the corridor, “I have to keep myself together until he is finished.”</p><p>“Skyla?”</p><p>She froze and looked up with horror as she realised that she had just unwittingly stepped out into the path of none other than Professor Snape, who had been walking past with some kind of potion in his hand. His slightly confused expression turned into a calculating gaze, and something about the way he looked at her set her on edge. She realised far too late that she had overstayed with Sirius and it seemed that she was now about the pay the price.</p><p>“Well, well, well,” he said with a smirk, “our golden girl, sneaking around after curfew? Hidden passageways? Rule breaking? Tsk tsk. You are coming with me. Now.”</p><p>Skyla gulped and, with little other choice, she steeled herself and followed the man down to his office in the dungeons, cursing her luck the entire way down.</p><p>***************</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Out With the Old</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>*Content warning*: mild underage non-con for this chapter, but nothing 'major' that deserves an entire tag. Just giving a fair warning to those who are sensitive to any material of that nature.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skyla silently marched behind Professor Snape as she followed him down through the winding pathway of stone stairs that led to the dark and occluded dungeons that lie deep below the castle. The ‘classroom’ where they held their potions classes felt as though it resided within the very heart of the earth, yet as she continued to walk even further past it and down into depths she came to realise that the castle dungeons extended far deeper than she had ever realised. She didn’t know why they would even need such deep dungeons but she could only assume that these dungeons had originally been created to house rabid beasts or demons in the same way that Beatrice had housed her down in the cellar; as far out of sight and mind as they could be pushed. Skyla could see how being underground and away from the ruckus of the school upstairs might have some benefits to a teacher seeking privacy, but even still, she couldn’t understand why Snape would voluntarily choose to have his office down here. It was all just so… hollow and lifeless. Darkness and privacy were one thing, but this was another level of isolation.</p><p>She shook her head slightly as they walked to clear her thoughts; she needed to stay focused. She knew that it had been foolish of her not to check for someone on the other side of the statue prior to walking out (as distracted as she may have been) but for better or (more likely) worse, she was in this situation now so she needed to make the most of it. She knew that Sirius was depending on her to keep things under control at Hogwarts and to avoid making a scene, so the most important thing was to ensure that Snape didn’t get suspicious of anything even closely related to the truth; she knew that if Snape found out she was sneaking around to meet the ‘mass murderer’ Sirius Black in the Castle then not even the potion-master’s strange behaviour towards her in class would save her from a potential expulsion.</p><p>They eventually arrived at Snape’s office and she was directed inside to find that the office was quite close to what she had expected; it was dark and dreary with various bottles of potions lining the shelves and an assortment of books stuffed haphazardly into the corners. It was quite minimalist and was comprised of little more than a single desk, Snape’s high-backed office seat, two cheap wooden chairs and a few bookshelves. There was a door to the far side of the room which Skyla could only assume was where Snape slept overnight, though she had no desire at all to see what that looked like.</p><p>“So…” Snape began with a tone of superiority as he sat down at his desk, indicating with his hand for her to take a seat across from him, “going for a late night wander, hm?”</p><p>“Yes, sir,” Skyla said quietly.</p><p>Snape raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“So you admit that you were breaking curfew?”</p><p>“Yes, sir.”</p><p>“... why?”</p><p>“I-I was meeting up with a-boy,” Skyla said, thinking quickly.</p><p>“A boy?”</p><p>“Yeah. He, uh, he said he… liked my hair and wanted to… do stuff,” Skyla invented. Was that the kind of thing a boy might say? She should have paid more attention to Lavender’s ‘lessons’ (not that she had ever thought Lavenders comments would actually be useful).</p><p>“Hm…”</p><p>Snape peered at her with a frown and his eyes flicked towards her messy, loose ponytail that she had roughly stuffed into a scrunchie that morning. Skyla knew that she was in trouble; he wasn’t buying it, she could tell from his expression.</p><p>“He left just before you arrived, I was just… uh, fixing myself up,” Skyla said hurriedly, “we stumbled into an empty space in the wall but I couldn’t tell you where it was again. No idea. The castle is funny like that.”</p><p>“Is that so?”</p><p>“Yes… sir.”</p><p>He stared at her with such a strong, penetrating gaze that she felt as though he was piercing straight into her skull.</p><p>“Which boy?”</p><p>Skyla paused for a split-second before replying with the first random boy that she could think of who wasn’t Neville.</p><p>“It was… Ron. Ron Weasley.”</p><p>“That useless ginger buffoon?” Snape said with a low laugh, “you let that Weasley sully you? And here I thought that Lily had made some awful decisions while at school… I guess her daughter is no better after all.”</p><p>Despite knowing that she was in trouble and that she should keep her mouth shut, she couldn’t help but feel a flaring of hot anger at his comment. Who was he to comment about her mother?</p><p>“Don’t talk about my mum like that,” she said in annoyance, “she was a lovely person.”</p><p>“You didn’t even know her,” Snape scoffed, “and you never will.”</p><p>His words stung as though he had physically slapped her and she only felt her anger flare further.</p><p>“Well I’ve never heard anyone mention you and my mum,” Skyla said with an annoyed expression, “so I guess you can’t have been that close to her.”</p><p>“Silence!” Snape hissed suddenly, “ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek.”</p><p>“You could take a hundred from me and it wouldn’t make a dent to what I’ve earned,” Skyla pointed out angrily, “and I don’t care about the stupid House Cup anyway. All it’s done so far is cause everyone problems-”</p><p>“I said silence!”</p><p>Snape rose to his feet and began to pace the office in annoyance, clearly thinking deeply. Skyla was waiting for him to suddenly announce some kind of harsh detention or bizarre punishment, yet oddly enough, he began to chuckle softly after a moment of thought.</p><p>“You have too much of her in you,” he eventually said in a quiet voice full of emotion, “your mother. You have her image, but you also have her fire and her passion. It’s like looking into a mirror of the past; it’s quite beautiful, as are you.”</p><p>Skyla didn’t know what to say to that, but the way that he was staring at her was starting to make her feel uncomfortable.</p><p>“You have no idea about what happened,” he continued, “it should have been us, it should have always been us. Until your father, the arrogant waste of oxygen that he was, stole her out from under me with horrendous jokes, poor imitations of flattery and by flaunting his wealth and influence in her face at every given moment. I still can’t believe that she fell for it; I never would have thought Lily could have been bought out by such gimmicks yet there she went, racing off with him like some knockturn whore.”</p><p>Skyla bit her tongue, yet she felt some of her anger return to her body at his words. She might have been young, but she still knew enough to know what he was implying about her mother and she didn’t like it at all.</p><p>“I wish I could hate you,” Snape admitted with a soft sigh, “knowing that you are his spawn kills me inside but you have too much of her in you. You are far too beautiful.”</p><p>“I don’t like it when you call me that,” Skyla said quietly, but Snape ignored her and he stepped around the desk to kneel down next to her chair, staring into directly into her eyes in a very confronting and uncomfortable manner.</p><p>“We should start over,” he said with a small smile, apparently under the impression that he was being comforting or reassuring, “I’ll even make a deal with you. It’s a fair deal and I’ll forget all about this. I’ll even return your house points.”</p><p>“I told you, I don’t care about that,” Skyla said with a growing sense of restlessness, “and I don’t want any deal. I just want to go back to my dorm.”</p><p>“Oh don’t stress, I think you’ll find this to be quite a good deal and enjoyable too.”</p><p>‘He lies.’</p><p>Skyla blinked and looked around the room in confusion; who said that? Snape was still staring at her intently and didn’t appear to have reacted at all.</p><p>“I-I think I’d just rather get detention or whatever,” Skyla said with dry lips, as her eyes darted briefly to the door.</p><p>“There’s no need for that,” Snape said with a slight sniff of annoyance, “come, I have something much better in mind.”</p><p>He reached out and placed his hand on her arm, but she pulled away immediately, knocking the chair back as she scrambled backwards.</p><p>“N-no I don’t want to.”</p><p>“It’s not like you have a choice,” Snape said pointedly, “unless you wish to get into a lot more trouble than you are already in?”</p><p>“Take me to Professor McGonagall then,” Skyla said quickly, “she’s my Head of House. She should decide my punishment shouldn’t she?”</p><p>“No. Your punishment is for me to decide.”</p><p>‘He wants to hurt you.’</p><p>Skyla continued to back away until her back pressed up against the wall, while Snape frowned at her.</p><p>“Don’t be difficult.”</p><p>He began to walk towards her and she realised that she had foolishly pinned herself against the wall that was furthest from the door, and he was now blocking her exit. With a growing sense of panic, she shakily pulled her wand out and pointed it at him, causing him to stop in his tracks.</p><p>‘He wants to hurt you. Hurt him instead! Do it! Before you lose your chance!’</p><p>“S-stay back,” Skyla said quickly, “or I’ll-”</p><p>“You’ll what?” Snape snarled as he withdrew his own wand with astonishing speed and it took only one nonverbal flick to send her wand rocketing away from her body. She gasped in surprise at the man’s extreme skill but she tried to recover herself, thinking quickly about what she could do. Snape triumphantly walked towards her with a smirk on his face however it quickly faded as she suddenly ran towards him with her palm extended. He realised a fraction too late what was coming and he was stunned as a blinding flash of light burned into his eyes, causing him to clamp them shut in pain.</p><p>“Ah! You little bitch!”</p><p>Skyla didn’t hesitate and while he was still stunned from the bright orb of light that she had sent flying into his face at point blank range, she took off at a run, bolting for the door.</p><p>Her hand was on the knob and she was in the process of yanking the door open when she felt her body suddenly seize up and she was frozen in place, completely unable to move or speak. Try as she might, she couldn’t even get her eyes to move and she was forced to stand completely still, staring at the same exact spot on the door.</p><p>“You’re going to pay for that,” Snape huffed angrily from behind her as he approached her frozen form, “I was hoping to do this the easy way but you just had to make it difficult.”</p><p>Skyla felt two hands on her shoulders and he slowly spun her around while clicking the door shut once again, this time locking it firmly with a spell. He peered down into her deep, terrified eyes while blinking rapidly to return his vision, with a dark look slowly forming on his face that Skyla didn’t like the look of one bit.</p><p>“I’ve been watching you,” he said as he slowly looked her up and down, “you’re truly your mother’s daughter, and not just in looks. I’ve seen your intelligence in class, I’ve seen your kindness to others and I’ve seen the dedication you inspire in your friends. You really are her, you really are Lily…”</p><p>He reached out and lightly brushed her hair back behind her ear, which even though she could not speak or move, still caused her to internally shudder at the extremely unpleasant sensation that she hoped to never experience again in her life.</p><p>‘Patience.’</p><p>The strange voice spoke once again and she tried to look around to see where it was coming from, but she couldn’t move her eyes at all and she could only stare directly ahead. Her heart was pounding in her chest however and she felt like a wild animal trying to find a way to free herself; a wily fox with its paw stuck painfully in an unyielding trap, starting to panic as it begins to realise its fate.</p><p>“So beautiful,” Snape said softly as he ran his fingers along her cheek, “my Lily.”</p><p>‘Wait.’</p><p>His fingers brushed lightly over her lips and she felt a wave of nausea swelling from the depths of her body, though she wasn’t sure if she could even throw up while in this state of stasis.</p><p>‘Give me control.’</p><p>Snape visibly gulped and through his heavy breathing, he leaned down and brought his own face down towards her in a slow, but steady motion as he closed his eyes slowly.</p><p>‘Let me take over! Now!’</p><p>Skyla wasn’t sure what was more terrifying; Snape’s ever-encroaching face or the strangers voice that was making demands of her and practically screaming in her ears to give up control of her body.</p><p>‘Give me control before it’s too late! I can help you! Let me take over!’</p><p>Skyla only truly understood what the man was about to do as his lips were mere inches from her own, and at the last second she closed her eyes in fear and whispered to the unknown voice;</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>She knew no more.</p><p>***************</p><p>Sirius paced anxiously in the hallway outside the large, golden, double doors of an extravagant-looking meeting room on the highest floor of the bank of Gringotts. He had been escorted to the top by Bleeding Eyes yet he hadn’t encountered any other goblins along the way; either his path had been cleared for him or no-one else was allowed up here. Either way, the lack of any other signs of life only served to heighten his nerves and highlight the importance of the upcoming meeting.</p><p>This was it, he realised as the weight of his actions began to sink in; it was finally the moment of truth. He had prepared himself as thoroughly as he could for his upcoming task and there was precious little more for him to do beyond pace and stress in this deserted hallway, awaiting his entry to meet the (in)famous Gringotts board. Bleeding Eyes had dipped into Skyla’s funds on her behalf and organised a tailored set of formal black wizard’s robes for him that shrunk to fit him perfectly, along with a few magical items that he would need to make his case which awaited his arrival in the meeting room such as the pensieve and his vials of memories. His clothes definitely looked the part of a noble businessman, however his hair and short beard was still a little devil-may-care, despite his best attempts to tame them into something that looked neat and formal. Still, he knew that the sticky-fingered goblins placed little weight on appearance and far more weight on the strength, power and gold that an individual possessed. He still wanted to show that he had at least put some effort into his appearance however, as a sign of respect if nothing else due to the importance of the occasion.</p><p>After what felt like an eternity of waiting, Bleeding Eyes eventually slipped back out into the hall through the double doors and gave Sirius an intense look.</p><p>“It is time,” he said quietly, with no presence of his usual toothy sneer or taunting tone, “it’s do or die Black. For both of us.”</p><p>“Thanks for the reminder.”</p><p>Bleeding Eyes said nothing further to him and with a nod to Sirius, swung open the double doors fully to reveal the inside of the meeting room. A large executive table occupied the center of the room and it appeared to be made entirely of mahogany and gold; quite the power play if ever Sirius had seen one. At the table, sitting side-by-side, were three of the fattest and nastiest looking goblins that Sirius had ever seen in his life. Unlike Bleeding Eyes, who was quite wiry and small with long slender fingers, sharp refined claws and lean limbs, these goblins were thick and heavy set as they overflowed in their chairs from their weight and picked at their teeth and noses idly in apparent boredom. They each wore a strange assortment of armour pieces strapped on in random locations and Sirius couldn’t help but think of them as the fat, spoiled, muggle kings of ages past who did little more than sit on their throne, eat, fuck and send better men to war on their behalf. Despite their over-fed and over-padded bodies that looked painful to even move around, their faces were as hard as stone and they gave off a dangerous air as they collectively observed Sirius with an icy-cold glare that would have stopped the hearts of lesser men. Even if Sirius was doing his best not to be intimidated by the goblins at the table, it was hard not to be slightly intimidated by the host of goblins he noticed lining the walls who were heavily clad in armour while wielding a variety of dangerous looking weapons.</p><p>Bleeding Eyes stepped forward and bowed low to the three goblins, before making a sweeping gesture towards Sirius.</p><p>“Allow me to introduce Sirius Black, former heir of The Ancient and Noble House of Black!”</p><p>Sirius bowed low in respect to the goblins, though when he looked up they hardly seemed to have reacted at all.</p><p>“Mister Black, allow me to introduce you to Warlord Storm Blood; the Warlord of Stoneclaw Peak!” he announced.</p><p>Bleeding Eyes bowed low to the heavy goblin seated on the left, who was apparently this ‘Storm Blood’. He seemed uninterested and said nothing to Sirius, merely sniffing slightly in his direction with apparent contempt. Despite the obvious insult, Sirius bowed low once again, following Bleeding Eyes’ lead.</p><p>“To your right, Warlord Shatter Jaw; Warlord of The Bellowing Slopes!” Bleeding Eyes continued, bowing low to the goblin on the right while Sirius once again mirrored his movements.</p><p>“The Bellowing Slopes? Bah! The slopes have been quiet for a generation,” Shatter Jaw growled while slamming his fist onto the table, “should rename the damn things to The Whimpering Whispers now.”</p><p>“Quiet yourself, Shatter,” the goblin in the middle said in a dangerous tone, “lest I quiet you myself.”</p><p>From the way that Shatter Jaw fell silent, Sirius had a suspicion that this was no idle threat.</p><p>“And it is my great honour to introduce The King of Kings,” Bleeding Eyes said with a much deeper bow towards the goblin in the middle, almost prostrating himself on the floor, “The Great Goblin King of the West, Chairman of the Board and The Destroyer of the Underworld, King Silver Tongue!”</p><p>“Hmph,” Silver Tongue let out with an amused scoff, “not much of a board these days to be chairman of, and those titles are from an age long gone.”</p><p>“My humble greetings to the Kings of Kings and his Warlords,” Sirius began with a low bow, “I honour those who stand upon the bones of a thousand generations, and raise my grog to the goblin who never forgives, and never forgets.”</p><p>“You’ve done your homework on our greetings,” Silver Tongue said dispassionately, “but I wonder if you truly know what those words mean.”</p><p>Sirius had been well versed by Bleeding Eyes on exactly how to address the board, however he decided not to push his luck any further with his limited understanding of their culture so simply bowed his head respectfully in response. Aside from a few instructions on goblin customs, Bleeding Eyes had given Sirius only one piece of advice for dealing with the Goblin King; appeal to his greed, appeal to his pride, and if all else fails, appeal to his vengeance. </p><p>“So it’s true,” Silver Tongue said in a much deeper tone than the smaller goblins tended to sound, “I almost didn’t believe Bleeding Eyes when he approached us to set up a meeting with the most wanted man in magical Britain. Nearly lopped his head off right then and there.”</p><p>Bleeding Eyes carefully began to shuffle towards the back of the room while clutching his neck, leaving Sirius standing alone in the center to the booming laughter of the goblin leaders and their guards.</p><p>“Well they didn’t call him Brave Eyes, I suppose,” Shatter Jaw scoffed while idly scratching his rough and scarred face, “though this human seems to have balls enough to stand in front of us without pissing himself.”</p><p>“Is it bravery or foolishness?” Storm Blood mused, “or perhaps desperation? Sirius Black is still the most wanted wizard in Great Britain last I heard, he is known even to us goblins. A mass murderer of muggles; perhaps he feels he now has nothing left to lose.”</p><p>“Tell us then Black,” Siler Tongue said quietly, “why are you here?”</p><p>“Great king,” Sirius began, “I am not here due to a sense of desperation or because I have nothing to lose. In fact, I am here because I have everything to gain and if our meeting goes well, so do you.”</p><p>“Hmph,” Silver Tongue scoffed again, “we’ll see about that. Speak, and be quick about it. I haven’t tasted fresh human flesh in years, so lets get on with this.”</p><p>Sirius’ cheeks turned slightly pale in apprehension, however he cleared his throat quietly and did his best to appear unaffected by their comments.</p><p>“I will not waste your valuable time, great king,” Sirius began with more outward confidence than he actually felt, “so I will get straight to the point; I am an innocent man.”</p><p>All three goblins scoffed, but Sirius pressed on regardless.</p><p>“I have the evidence to prove it, however I know that you care little about me or my plight; and why should you? But, you should know that I wouldn’t have come here without something for you to gain from this.”</p><p>Sirius took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, before continuing on.</p><p>“I know that the goblins are still feeling the effects of the last war with wizards,” he said carefully, “and I won’t do you the injustice of pretending to understand the full depth of it. I do know however that a once proud race was forced into servitude of wizards and it has only been in recent years that you have gained some form of independence through your skill with finances.”</p><p>“Independence?” Silver Tongue said with deep, booming laugh, “no. You misunderstand, Black. What you see as independence, or perhaps even freedom for my people, is nothing more than a new shackle around our throats, only this time it’s far harder to break than simple iron. We are a people who have been forged through war for centuries; it is the heart of our culture, and now we have been forced to make peace not only with the wizards, but with ourselves. Did you ever wonder why the goblins never conquered the world? We had the numbers, once upon a time. Back when being the Goblin King meant something.”</p><p>Sirius nodded his head silently; he had in fact wondered about that very question.</p><p>“Because we were too busy fighting ourselves while the humans built their castles and their fortresses,” Silver Tongue scoffed, “it’s what we do, it’s how we earn our names, it’s how we build our legacies, it’s how we define who a goblin is. It wasn’t enough that the wizards took away our ability to wage war with other races; by collaring us and ‘intergrating’ us into their society, by stuffing us inside buildings, by giving us quills and shiny gold, they took away our ability to wage war with ourselves. Our culture is doomed and THAT is why a goblin never forgives. THAT is why a goblin never forgets.”</p><p>“You look now upon the last of the warlords, Black,” Scatter Jaw said bitterly as he spat upon the ground, “this used to mean something. A council under the king? Time ago you’ve seen a dozen warlords with a dozen captains each here. Grog everywhere. Fights over who sat where. Bets on who was gonna cop a dagger in the ribs. It was our way. Now? We write receipts and clamor over the shiny gold down below. Even the Great Arena of Glak’dar lies silent and empty now.”</p><p>“I did not know this,” Bleeding Eyes said suddenly from the back of the room, “the arena is… finished?”</p><p>“Far Reach and his hold have left Glak’dar,” Shatter Jaw said bitterly, “made their way across the ocean in boats to the far west to seek gold and fortune. An entire hold of goblins; in boats. I hope the fools all drown. Glak’dar is nothing but an empty hold under the mountain now. I imagine it will stay that way, we don’t have the numbers to fill it again.”</p><p>Bleeding Eyes looked deeply troubled at his words.</p><p>“Shatter Jaw speaks the truth, yet your people see us as nothing but bankers and greedy bureaucrats,” Storm Blood sneered in Sirius’ direction, “low have we fallen that this bank is to be the final legacy of the goblins. We are too few, too scattered, too broken.”</p><p>“Why do you dredge these painful memories, Black?” Silver Tongue asked Sirius directly, “to remind us of how low we have fallen? To rub our faces in the superiority of wizards?”</p><p>Sirius wanted to point out that they had been the ones to go on their rant, but he bit his tongue.</p><p>“I have no desire to see the world conquered by goblins,” he began, “yet I have no desire to see the world rid of goblins either. I see a world in which we can stand together as equals.”</p><p>The three goblins looked at each other for a moment before breaking out into guffawing laughter.</p><p>“You didn’t tell me you brought a comedian Silver,” Shatter Jaw chortled, “I would have brought the  grog.”</p><p>“Hear me out,” Sirius said quickly while the goblins laughed, “I have proof that the Ministry was responsible for the murders of those thirteen muggles who died ten years ago. The Ministry is riddled with former servants of the Dark Lord who, to this day, go unaccountable for their crimes such as this one.”</p><p>The goblins had stopped laughing at the mention of the Dark Lord and instead, frowned in anger at the mere notion of his existence.</p><p>“The ‘Dark Lord’,” Shatter Jaw said with mirth in his voice, “we foolishly believed that he was different from the rest of you humans. He wanted to reunite the goblins and form a grand army; restore our traditions and our ways, or so we believed.”</p><p>“Until he betrayed us,” Storm Blood spat, “killed half an entire hold of goblins with dark magic on his way to the vaults and walked out with a handful of magical trinkets. No-one steals from us, Black, no-one.”</p><p>“We can all agree that the Dark Lord was a plague upon our world,” Sirius said with a frown of his own, “one that my goddaughter, Skyla, rid from this world, though much was sacrificed in the process.”</p><p>“Ah yes, Bleeding Eyes did mentioned that the young Potter heiress had come back into the fold and that her vaults were now active again,” Silver Tongue mused, “I confess that I have followed little of the dealings in the alley for some time. What’s the point of being Goblin King when you have nothing left to rule and all your holds lie empty?”</p><p>“Funny you should say that,” Sirius said with a small bow of his head, “because I think I can help with that. At least, in terms of getting you something to rule.”</p><p>Silver Tongue raised an eyebrow, but sat back and motioned with his hand for Sirius to continue.</p><p>“As I said, I have evidence of the Ministries crimes. When that comes to public light we can-”</p><p>“Wait. Even if you do have evidence of a great crime,” Shatter Jaw interjected grimly, “what you speak of occurred over a decade ago. I have no doubt that the Ministry cares little about it now, and perhaps even your own people will not care at all when it is brought up.”</p><p>“That might very well have been the case,” Sirius said with a polite bow of his head, “if those responsible were not still working within the Ministry. They are still there as I said; the servants of the Dark Lord who slipped between the cracks and embedded themselves into the system. They feed off it like a parasite; they funnel money into their own pockets, they hide their Death Eater friends in plain sight and they climbed over the corpses of many innocent people to do it. If this is brought to light, in the right way and at the right time, this could spark more than just a public outrage. We could use this well and the goblins could benefit greatly.”</p><p>Sirius noted with approval that the three goblins were all staring at him with shrewd, calculating looks. He met Bleeding Eyes’ gaze who nodded at him, encouraging him to press forward.</p><p>“So,” Sirius said confidently, “my proposal isn’t just to reveal this information randomly. You are all aware that alone would not bring down the Ministry and would be a political hiccup at best.”</p><p>Storm Blood and Shatter Jaw nodded, although Silver Tongue seemed to be appraising with Sirius with a knowing look.</p><p>“But,” he continued slowly, “if we save the information and reveal it at the right time, such as, during the trial of the ‘mass murderer Sirius Black’, it would cause quite the political shit-storm that would cover the front page of the papers for days.”</p><p>“A shit-storm that would provide cover for other news no doubt,” Silver Tongue nodded along, “what are you thinking?”</p><p>“Well, you’ve been trying to get your hands on Diagon Alley for years, decades even,” Sirius said.</p><p>“Generations,” Silver Tongue said bitterly, “but none will sell to the bank, no matter what we offer.”</p><p>“Right. Magical folk are stubborn like that. But, what if I told you that if we play this out right, you would not only have a vested share of every part of Diagon Alley, but a functioning, thriving Knockturn Alley too?”</p><p>The three goblins looked at him in surprise, however eventually turned to each other with frowns on their faces.</p><p>“Can’t be done,” Storm Blood said with a shake of his head.</p><p>“Humans will never part with it,” Shatter Jaw pointed out, “even if you somehow tricked them or stole the ownership of the alley, they would probably pack up and leave once they found out the alley was goblin run. We’d be left with nothing but a dead alley then.”</p><p>“Exactly,” Sirius said, surprising them all, “and we can use that, but first you need to acquire the land and property. Let’s think, who do we know that has a lot of gold and already owns major percentages of several high profile stores? And who’s very name commands the respect of the public? And who will be above reproach if she makes an offer to buy out a store at well above market value? They’d probably haggle to ‘lower’ the price of the sale.”</p><p>The goblins all stared at Sirius as his words sunk in.</p><p>“This is what we do; Skyla, as the Lady of House Potter, buys the properties, land, and anything she can get her hands on,” Sirius explained victoriously with a slight grin, his hard work finally being laid bare, “for whatever it costs to acquire. Then, she supports the goblins who are fighting for justice and fair treatment at the same time, being the lovely person that she is. We run a campaign, Skyla and House Potter, champion of goblin rights, and so on. She then decides to allow the goblins to buy into a fifty-one to forty-nine partnership as a show of good faith.”</p><p>“Allowing her to retain majority control to prevent it from being ‘goblin run’,” Silver Tongue said slowly, “while giving us almost half of the alley’s takings and the Ministry can’t do a thing about it since we never bought anyone out.”</p><p>“Exactly. That is only step one however. You will see true colours start to fly then,” Sirius said grimly, “some will side with Skyla and believe that she is good, and just, and fair for siding with the goblins. If I was to hazard a guess, I would say that the muggleborns and half-bloods will be far more susceptible to her cause and less inclined to be as prejudiced as the noble elite.”</p><p>“And the others?” Storm Blood asked, “who don’t join Skyla?”</p><p>“Well, they will want to go back to tradition, won’t they? They will want to return to their pureblood roots and who will be there to welcome them with open arms, with a brand new alley for the elite?”</p><p>“-The Ancient and Noble House of Black,” Silver Tongue said with a vindictive grin forming on his face, “you want to play both sides of the fence.”</p><p>“Once my name is cleared, I can use the Black family name to purchase as much land and property as I can in Knockturn alley while it is cheap and fill it full of people under the Black employ,” Sirius said smugly, “when Skyla takes the alley for the goblins and the muggleborns, and the noble traditionalists have nowhere else to go, they will eagerly funnel straight into Knockturn. The part they won’t realise is that just like Skyla, you’ll be investing in the alley and have forty nine percent of that as-well.”</p><p>“Clever,” Silver Tongue said in appreciation, “you get your name cleared and a healthy stake in an entire alley while Skyla gets majority holdings in Diagon. Even if one of you is struggling, the other will be reaping the benefits and vice-versa.”</p><p>“As will the bank,” Sirius pointed out, “you end up in the same position as us. And, even if Diagon Alley might take a hit in the short term, with goblins being allowed the freedom to move about the alley and the number of muggleborn births increasing every year, we’ll create a safe space for both sides of society to be with their own kind which will promote spending to support their own ‘sides’ of the trade war.”</p><p>“While you both reel in the profits,” Storm Blood said thoughtfully.</p><p>“And the bank,” Sirius reminded him, “you’ll be making big off both. And what’s the Ministry going to do about it? If they harass the goblins in Diagon then they make an enemy of House Potter and the bank. If they harass the nobility then they make an enemy of House Black and the traditional pureblood elite. It’s checkmate for the Ministry; the alleys are all but yours and all it takes is a two percent sale snuck through the books later in the years and viola, you have control and a healthy market, true to our word and Skyla and I can sit back on a healthy forty-nine percent each while you take over the operation of the alleys as you see fit.”</p><p>Silence rung in the air as the goblins thought deeply about his words.</p><p>“There’s a lot of risk with this plan,” Shatter Jaw pointed out, “we could end up in a war. We could end up being wiped out entirely if this goes wrong. The Ministry won’t just roll over and let this happen.”</p><p>“And are you afraid of war?” Sirius asked pointedly, “I thought a goblin never forgets, or was that all talk?”</p><p>“HA!” Shatter Jaw laughed deeply, “I like you Black. If you die for this, I’ll raise a grog to your memory.”</p><p>“Brings a tear to my eye,” Sirius said dryly, causing Shatter Jaw to start guffawing again.</p><p>“Bleeding Eyes,” Silver Tongue said suddenly, getting the goblin’s attention.</p><p>“Yes, Great King?” the goblin replied immediately, stepping forward with a low bow.</p><p>Silver Tongue met the eyes of his warlords briefly before breaking into a vicious looking smile.</p><p>“Get us a few barrels of grog up here. We’re gonna be in for a long night.”</p><p>Sirius broke into a grin as Silver Tongue motioned for him to join them at the table and Bleeding Eyes scuttled off with a look of elation, and relief, in his eyes.</p><p>“Okay, so now that we’re all friends here I have to ask,” Sirius said as a nearby goblin brought him another chair, “what’s the story behind the names?”</p><p>“Oh now you’ve gone and done it,” Shatter Jaw grumbled, “we’ll be here til Kruhlah comes.”</p><p>“Ignore him, mine is a thrilling tale,” Storm Blood began eagerly, “it all started in the windswept peaks when I was but a young nameless attempting to find my way…”</p><p>By the time they had gotten through Bleeding Eyes’ first barrel of grog, they made finally made it past ‘Storm’ and onto ‘Blood’.</p><p>***************</p><p>“Miss Potter?”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>Skyla blinked repeatedly and realised that she was currently sitting at her desk in Transfiguration, with everyone in the classroom looking at her.</p><p>“Sorry, what did you say?”</p><p>Professor McGonagall pursed her lips slightly before repeating,</p><p>“I was asking you what it is about my teaching methods that made that particular part of the wall far more interesting to watch for twenty minutes than my demonstration?”</p><p>“Oh-uh-”</p><p>Skyla hadn’t realised that she had been staring blankly at the wall for that long, however she suddenly became very acutely aware that every single eye had been turned towards her chair. Hermione and Neville sat alongside her, staring at her with concern etched all over their faces.</p><p>“Sorry, I just… haven’t been sleeping well,” Skyla said, “I just… zoned out a bit.”</p><p>McGonagall frowned at her slightly, but surprisingly said nothing more and went back to teaching the class to the relief of Skyla, leaving her alone with her thoughts once again.</p><p>She hadn’t lied to McGonagall at all; she had hardly slept at all during the past week. She found that she had difficulty getting to sleep in the first place no matter how exhausted she was, and even once she had eventually fallen asleep in the late hours of the morning she would have strange nightmares that caused her to wake up in a cold sweat merely an hour later. She was sure that she had been making strange noises in the night as both Lavender and Parvati had been giving her a very wide berth ever since. Even Hermione had been treating her differently; she had a constantly worried expression on her face whenever she spoke to Skyla and she spoke in careful tones that sounded as though she were afraid of agitating a ticking time-bomb that was waiting to explode at any moment.</p><p>At least she still had quidditch to distract herself for an hour or two, and it had surprised many when she had decided to return to the team training sessions. Everyone had thought that she would never return after the disastrous (and nearly fatal) events of their very first game, however Wood had been overjoyed to see Skyla shuffling onto the field in the early hours of the morning, dressed in her quidditch robes and clutching a new (figuratively speaking) loan-broom from Madam Hooch.</p><p>“It’s alright, it’s all going to be okay,” Wood had said to her with a surprising amount of empathy, patting her gently on the back in a supportive manner, “it was the opening game of the season. If we thrash Hufflepuff in the next match and Ravenclaw lose to-”</p><p>Skyla had to stop herself from rolling her eyes; of course his only concern was about quidditch. She didn’t know why she had thought for a moment that he might be being sympathetic about anything else like, her health or, her well-being perhaps.</p><p>“I’ll just hold back next time,” she said quietly, indicating to her new broom (which was the same model though perhaps even older than the first one). She had no intention of splitting this one again and she fully intended to take it as easy as she could in the air from now on.</p><p>“We’ll see about that,” was all that Wood had said about it as they began their training session. He put them all through their paces with a very intense session but Skyla had to admit that it was quite soothing to have something physical to get her mind off the many distracting thoughts that she had been having lately. The simplicity of getting on a broom and (carefully) chasing the snitch around the pitch set her mind at ease.</p><p>In a strange turn of events it seemed that Professor McGonagall’s classes had now become Skyla’s favourite, since the formerly stern teacher seemed to be taking it rater easy on Skyla after her strange episodes of inattentiveness and a general lack of focus. Skyla had never been a bad student in the classroom to begin with, however even she shouldn’t have been able to get away with blankly staring at a wall for an hour while McGonagall spoke to the rest of the students, yet the Professor hadn’t brought it up again.</p><p>In stark contrast to her transfiguration classes, potions with Professor Snape had become a complete nightmare since Snape had suddenly grown much colder and much more distant than he had been in the past, for some unknown reason. She had no idea what she had done to apparently offend the teacher, however gone were the days of her receiving points for free and having an easy ride in the classroom as he would bizarrely alternate between harassing her over minor mistakes or going out of his way to avoid her entirely.</p><p>“You haven’t placed your cork back in your vial Potter, five points from Gryffindor.”</p><p>“But, sir, I’m literally just about to-”</p><p>“Really? In that case ten points from Gryffindor, and five more for talking back.”</p><p>Hermione and Neville (along with the rest of the class) had been stunned to see Skyla suddenly swapping from being Snape’s golden girl into his apparent worst enemy within the space of a single week. The strange behaviour only continued when eventually the class ended and for the first time in their lives they watched Snape immediately head for the door and disappear from the room before any of the students had even gotten to their feet.</p><p>“He’s so weird,” Ron commented to Skyla as he walked past with a confused Dean and Seamus in tow, “absolute nutcase. Don’t worry about it, if it wasn’t you he was picking on it would be me. And if it wasn’t me it would be Seamus.”</p><p>“Oi.”</p><p>Skyla gave them a weak smile but she found herself unable to offer much more in return. The interaction with the man had been strangely upsetting to her and she had no idea why, but try as she might there was no reason she could think of as to why he would have suddenly changed his behaviour towards her. She must have done something to greatly upset him, but she couldn’t even remembering speaking to him at all since her last potions class.</p><p>Snape’s behaviour wasn’t the only oddity that Skyla noticed and it seemed that everyone was starting to slowly change the way that they behaved around her. By the time the middle of December rolled through, she had begun to wonder if she was truly going mad. Hermione and Neville had taken to whispering about her behind her back (they were not as subtle as they thought they were) and even Remus had been treating her strangely in his classes, giving her odd looks and staring at her with intensity when he thought she wasn’t looking. It wasn’t outwardly obvious to the others and it was clear that Remus was doing his best to be subtle, but there was clearly something about her that was bothering Remus in some way, even if he never mentioned it at all and he gave her nothing but a kind smile and fond reply whenever she spoke to him. She grew confident that there was definitely something strange going on, but she had no idea what it could possibly be.</p><p>As time drifted by, Skyla started to wonder if she had truly begun to lose her sanity as her grip on reality seemed to be slipping through her fingers like tiny grains of warm, smooth sand; if that was what sand felt like at least, since she had never actually felt it between her fingers before. In addition to the strange and disturbing dreams that kept her up at night and her inability to focus on anything during the day, she had started losing large chunks of time where she couldn’t remember what she was doing at all and would suddenly return to consciousness in a place that she didn’t remember walking to, or in the middle of doing something that she didn’t remember starting. It was extremely disconcerting to her to consistently wake up somewhere with no idea how she got there, however she did her best to bite her lip and pretend that she was okay. She briefly considered going to Madam Pomfrey for help since it seemed like she was going insane but she remembered Sirius’ words; she just needed to push through until he was ready to make his move. Whatever it took; just a few more days surely, just a few more…</p><p>Thankfully, she hadn’t seen the strange shadow or the unsettling eyes anywhere around the castle and it seemed that Sirius was right; as-long as she kept herself away from the forest she would be fine. She even started to wonder if the whole thing had actually just been a figment of her imagination all along; maybe she really had hit her head at some point and this was all just some kind of mental damage from falling from the sky into a very ancient tree.</p><p>Skyla’s mood was slightly improved on the Monday morning of the last week of classes before the holidays began, as a rather long package was gently dropped by a large barn owl right onto the Gryffindor breakfast table in front her. The owl seemed quite pleased with itself for hauling such a large package around and it looked at Skyla expectantly, giving a low ‘hoot’ in her direction.</p><p>“Good thing I’m already finished,” Hermione huffed slightly at the bird, “did you have to drop that thing right here?”</p><p>“Huh,” Neville exclaimed thoughtfully, “well it’s obviously a broom, and it must be for you.”</p><p>“I can’t have a broom as a first year,” Skyla pointed out, while tilting her head at the owl’s strange, almost exasperated maneuvers as it looked repeatedly between Skyla and her long forgotten plate of cold bacon. Eventually it finally clicked.</p><p>“Oh! Sorry,” Skyla said suddenly as she broke off some scraps for the owl, who hooted softly and eagerly accepted the cold snacks.</p><p>“There’s a letter attached,” Hermione said, indicating towards the apparent tail of the broom, “look.”</p><p>Skyla curiously plucked the letter from the package and began to read it, while a small crowd of students began to gather around the table with growing curiosity at the obviously broom-shaped package.</p><p>“Miss Potter,</p><p>You are being granted special considerations to own a broom as a first year due to;</p><p>- Being on the house quidditch team.<br/>
- Needing special equipment to play safely with the others.</p><p>The school has graciously offered to purchase your new broom as compensation for the injuries sustained during your previous sporting event.</p><p>Regards,</p><p>Minerva McGonagall,<br/>
Deputy Headmistress,<br/>
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”</p><p>“Wow,” Hermione said as she read the note from beside Skyla, “they even paid for it. Generous.”</p><p>Skyla raised an eyebrow at the note and looked up to the staff table where Professor McGonagall was thoroughly, almost pointedly, engaged in a conversation with Professor Dumbledore and neither of them seemed interested at all in the growing congregation of students surrounding the Gryffindor table.</p><p>“I did almost die, I suppose,” Skyla scoffed as she tore at the brown paper packaging, “nice to know my life is at least worth a broom.”</p><p>Hermione frowned, but Neville cut her off before she could speak.</p><p>“That’s not just ‘a broom’…” Neville said suddenly as Skyla revealed the tip of a beautiful mahogany handle that had very fine golden letters handwritten in a neat script across the polished wood.</p><p>The growing crowd gasped as she curiously pulled the rest of the brown paper away from the broom to reveal a sleek, stunning racing broom that Skyla had only ever seen once before; in the display window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. She could smell the still fresh lacquer on the wood and it had been polished so thoroughly that she could see the reflection of the enchanted ceiling above them as if it were a mirror.</p><p>“It’s a Nimbus,” Skyla said with recognition, “I remember seeing this on display.”</p><p>“Not just any Nimbus either,” Neville said with a low whistle, “look at the handle; it’s a Nimbus two thousand, their latest model. Top of the line and it’s what most professional players are using now.”</p><p>“How do you know so much about it?” Skyla asked curiously, “you hate flying.”</p><p>“I don’t hate flying,” Neville said with slightly red ears, “it’s flying that hates me.”</p><p>Skyla couldn’t help but laugh and pat Neville on the shoulder in solidarity of the memory of his disastrous attempt to fly. He hadn’t been hurt due to Skyla’s timely intervention, but if she hadn’t stepped in… he might have been the one going for a tumble into the forest.</p><p>“That’s one hell of a broom!” Ron said from behind them with awe, “you can’t get much better design than that. Look at the handle! And the tail! They added that just for this model it-”</p><p>“-helps with the drag,” Neville finished for him, turning around to speak to Ron, “it was the only complaint that professional players had bout the previous generation and they addressed it with this one.”</p><p>“Yeah, exactly,” Ron said excitedly, “it has a remarkable top speed in theory but if you have too much drag you can’t make use of it, especially with the lighter tail-weight-”</p><p>“-yeah they shaved several ounces off the model again at the footrests,” Neville said while nodding, “and that can really impact the drag when you are missing that weight at high altitudes-”</p><p>“-especially when you think of players like Krum and Lynch-”</p><p>“-don’t forget Saori Masaki, she’s being heralded as the next big name on the international circuit-”</p><p>“-I mean, sure Japan is meant to be looking strong for the next World Cup but no-one is going to stand up to Bulgaria since they have Krum even if Ireland does have the best chaser core in the world-”</p><p>Skyla met Hermione’s eye and Hermione dramatically rolled her eyes at the boys, causing Skyla to let out a few giggles.</p><p>Neville and Ron’s growing discussion about all things quidditch drew enough attention from those in the area that even Skyla hadn’t noticed the girl sidling up to their table until she was standing right behind Skyla, making her jump slightly when she spoke.</p><p>“That’s a lovely broom, Skyla. Congratulations.”</p><p>Skyla turned around in surprise to see none other than Cho Chang standing there, looking a little nervous about having ventured all the way over to the Gryffindor table by herself.</p><p>“Oh, uh thanks. You probably know more about it than I do, honestly.”</p><p>“I know a little,” Cho said with a small shrug, “but it’s not like I intend to play after school, unlike most here. You’ve probably already realised some people get quite fanatical over quidditch.”</p><p>She gave a pointed look towards the group of boys who were almost arguing at this point about which team had the best keeper, and Skyla chuckled slightly with a nod of her head.</p><p>“Could be worse,” Skyla said with a shrug, “at least Wood isn’t here. I’d never get out of here on time.”</p><p>Cho chuckled quietly before smiling and giving Skyla a fond look.</p><p>“I’m so glad that you’re doing okay,” she said, “I was really worried about you but I didn’t want to make a scene and approach you in the Great Hall without a good excuse. I was hoping to catch you in the corridor somtime but this seemed like a good chance-”</p><p>“Oh? You can come over and talk if you want, anytime,” Skyla said with a shrug, “it doesn’t bother me. I’d actually quite like that.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s great-”</p><p>Hermione cleared her throat slightly and looked pointedly at Skyla, who took a few confused moments before she realised what Hermione’s raised eyebrow was about.</p><p>“Oh Cho, this is my best friend Hermione,” Skyla said, “and Hermione this is Cho, the Ravenclaw seeker and my literal lifesaver.”</p><p>Cho waved her hand dismissively at the comment, simply saying, “you would have done the same for me.”</p><p>“As long as I’m not on a broken broom, sure.”</p><p>“Well maybe you’ll get a chance to test that the next time we play,” Cho said with a playful smile, “I’ll probably fall off just trying to keep up with you. Hopefully not over the forest this time though…”</p><p>“How is your arm by the way?”</p><p>“Absolutely fine,” Cho said happily, “Madam Pomfrey fixed it up like it’s nothing. Didn’t even hurt when she did it. How… how about you, after your… well…”</p><p>Cho trailed off and bit her lip hesitantly.</p><p>“-I… I was definitely a little woozy after landing like that,” Skyla said with a forced laugh, “but I’m much better now that I’ve had a chance to shake it off. I don’t know what came over me.”</p><p>“That’s good,” Cho said with a relieved smile, “I was worried about what you said you were seei- but, well, anyway, I’m glad to hear that you’re better. Let me know if I can help you in any way, okay?”</p><p>“Sure. You too. Thanks for coming to see me.”</p><p>“I’ll come by again sometime.”</p><p>“That sounds nice.”</p><p>Cho paused for a second before leaning down to give Skyla a brief hug, which she happily returned, before heading back to the Ravenclaw bench and her group of friends who were waiting for her. Skyla could smell the lingering hint of strawberry in the air from whatever perfume Cho had been wearing, and she found it quite a soothing sensation. She’d have to ask Cho what it was next time, maybe it was magical or something.</p><p>“Are-are you okay?” Skyla asked when she eventually turned back to look at Hermione.</p><p>“I’m absolutely fine, why?”</p><p>“Uh… I just… you…”</p><p>Skyla watched with confusion as Hermione stabbed the cold leftover eggs on her plate with her fork as though the eggs had personally offended her ancestors. Hermione said nothing about it however and simply continued to aggressively poke the eggs until they were nothing but a mushy mess on the plate, getting a few disapproving looks from the nearby students at the loud scraping and clattering sounds she was making as she violently butchered the remains. Skyla ogled her for a moment before shrugging; she had started to pick up on the fact that Hermione sometimes did strange things like that, just a quirk of hers, she supposed.</p><p>It wasn’t until the end of their final week before the Christmas holidays that Skyla finally heard back from Sirius, through a note that she had found tucked away within her backpack (courtesy of Bleeding Eyes, no doubt). Gryffindor tower (and the school itself) was almost completely empty since many students had decided to leave on the Saturday morning, rather than leaving on the Sunday morning like Hermione and Neville were planning to. Skyla was simply planning on staying at the castle, since she didn’t want to go back and bother Tom by making him set up a room for her again for the sake of what would be barely more than a week (and the thought of ever returning to the orphanage was laughable). As the group sat by the fire in the empty Gryffindor common room on the Saturday afternoon, Skyla idly pulled out the note from her bag with surprise and opened it, while Hermione peered (not-so) subtly over her shoulder to read it.</p><p>“Hey kiddo,</p><p>I met with that group we were talking about, and they are onboard with everything. Need you to be at the Ministry on the fourth of January. Got big plans that we are putting in motion, and I mean big. I thought my plan was ambitious but these guys? They’re taking it to a whole new level. Let’s just say I’m going to be flat-out until then so I won’t be able to see you for Christmas but, by doing this now it means that we might just have a chance to spend the next one together. And the one after that. For the rest of our lives.</p><p>Stay safe for me, and stay strong. We’re almost home.</p><p>Padfoot.”</p><p>“Padfoot?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“Well it has to be Sirius,” Skyla whispered after looking around conspiratorially, despite knowing that the common room was empty, “I can’t imagine Bleeding Eyes calling himself Padfoot.”</p><p>“He needs you to be at the Ministry the day after we return to school?”</p><p>“You don’t sound pleased. It’s one day of classes, Hermione, let it slide. I’ll figure it out.”</p><p>Hermione shook her head slightly, “no it’s not that, it’s just… I’m just worried about you. I can’t help but wonder if this is what you really need to be dealing with right now; this sounds like really serious stuff. I’ve been thinking about this a lot actually and was hesitant to ask but… maybe you might be better off getting some separation from all of this…?”</p><p>Skyla felt a sudden anger begin to burn within her stomach with surprising intensity.</p><p>“Is this-is this because of Sirius?” she asked with growing heat, “are you… are you jealous or something because I finally found my family?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“It is, isn’t it?” Skyla pressed on with a growing sense of rage and indignation, “you’re jealous that now I’m going to be spending time with my godfather! Doing things with him instead! You just want to control me!”</p><p>“What in the world are you-”</p><p>“Well you don’t!” Skyla all-but yelled as she stood up suddenly and stepped away from Hermione, glaring at her, “you don’t own me! No-one owns me!”</p><p>“Skyla I-”</p><p>“You won’t come between me and my godfather,” Skyla spat with venom, “I’ll destroy anything that tries. Even you.”</p><p>“... Skyla…” Hermione said with concern and a slight hint of fear, “I just… I thought maybe you might like to get away from all of this over the break. I was going to see if you wanted to come stay with me and my family over Christmas… take a break and come back refreshed…”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“... oh.”</p><p>It was as though someone had turned the light back on inside Skyla’s brain and she felt her rage subsiding. What had felt like burning oil in her stomach and sharp knives piercing into every nerve in her body had suddenly ceased the moment that Skyla imagined seeing Hermione’s home, her parents, her childhood bedroom... what did it look like? Hermione had never talked much about it…</p><p>“H-Hermione I-I-”</p><p>Hermione stared at Skyla with her wide, concerned eyes and for some reason, the sight of it caused Skyla to begin to fall apart at the seams.</p><p>“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”</p><p>Skyla felt the burning tears of regret and shame begin to well within her eyes and she quickly turned, running away in the direction of the girl’s dormitory and leaving a thoroughly confused Neville and Hermione standing there, staring at her back as she disappeared and slammed the door shut behind her.</p><p>“What is happening to me?” Skyla exclaimed with a sob as she threw herself at her pillow, half hoping to suffocate herself in the process as she fell face down into her bed. The former energy from her burning rage was well and truly depleted now and instead, it had been replaced by the heavy weight of deep regret and anguish, which was a far more painful emotional burden to carry.</p><p>Just what on earth was happening to her? She had never been one who was quick to anger despite what she had been through in the past and she had no idea what she had even been saying to Hermione; she didn’t know where those thoughts had come from because they certainly hadn’t come from her, she knew that much. Not once had she thought those things about Hermione and she would never hurt her, yet as soon as she had gotten angry her mind had gone to dark places that she didn’t even know she had.</p><p>She continued to sob into her pillow for a few minutes until she heard the dormitory door being gently pushed open behind her. Knowing that it wouldn’t have been Lavender or Parvati, since both girls had already gone home, it had to be Hermione and Skyla couldn’t bear to face her again like this, so instead she buried her face further into her pillow in the hope of never emerging again.</p><p>To her surprise, Hermione didn’t berate her, or yell at her, or criticise her in any way. After a moment, Skyla felt a soft weight sit down on her bed next to her and a kind, warm hand gently come to rest upon her back.</p><p>“Hey,” Hermione whispered quietly.</p><p>“... hey,” Skyla replied with a wet sniff.</p><p>“Sky, that’s gross,” Hermione laughed, “use a tissue.”</p><p>“I’m sorry.”</p><p>“It’s okay.”</p><p>“No not for that- well I mean, yes for that too, but… I just, I’m sorry. About everything.”</p><p>“Like I said, it’s okay.”</p><p>They both sat in silence for a moment, until Skyla eventually spoke again.</p><p>“I-I need help,” she admitted quietly, “I’ve never… I’ve never even thought those things that I said and I just… I just said them, I don’t know where they came from. I’m losing track of time, I keep blacking out, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat and I can’t focus, you’ve probably noticed my grades are slipping and now I’m threatening my best friend about stuff I don’t even understand. Well, I guess not best friend anymore since I doubt you want to be friends after this.”</p><p>“Sky,” Hermione said patiently, rubbing gently on her back with her hand, “I think you still have a lot to learn about me. It will take a lot more than that to get rid of me. You’re stuck with me as your best friend, like it or not.”</p><p>Hermione continue to pat her back in a soothing motion and Skyla felt her resolve starting to break; she let out a few more choked sobs in a vain attempt to hold back the flood before turning into her pillow once again and letting her tears flow freely into the feathers like the downpour in a thunderstorm.</p><p>Hermione said nothing about it however and simply rub Skyla gently on the back as she cried away her anguish.</p><p>“Come with me,” Hermione said softly, “over Christmas. I think you need a break from this world. I know I do.”</p><p>Skyla sniffled slightly, before turning back to look at Hermione.</p><p>“You still want me to go? Even after what I said?”</p><p>“Well as long as you don’t say it around my parents,” Hermione pointed out, getting a small laugh from Skyla.</p><p>“I’ll never say anything like that again,” Skyla said quietly.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it. You’ll feel better in the morning,” Hermione said with a small smile, lightly patting Skyla on the shoulder, “let’s just take it easy for tonight. Come on back down to the common room whenever you’re ready. No rush.”</p><p>Hermione stood up and made to head for the door, but Skyla reached out and grabbed her hand suddenly.</p><p>“‘Mione?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“You called me Sky.”</p><p>“Yeah... do you want me to not call you that?”</p><p>“No… I like when you say it.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>Hermione gave Skyla’s hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze before letting it slowly slip through her fingers, heading back out to the common room and to the comfort of the roaring fireplace to give Skyla a chance to collect herself.</p><p>‘Maybe she’s right,’ Skyla thought to herself with a sigh as she rolled over and stared up at the ceiling, ‘maybe it is a good idea to get away from everything for awhile.’</p><p>For the first time in over a week, Skyla felt fatigue begin to take her and she found herself drifting off into a deep, peaceful slumber, dreaming blissfully of playful foxes bounding around happily in the deep snow with not a single trap to be found anywhere, and plenty of healthy, soft paws padding around safely without a care in the world.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. The Life in our Years</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skyla had never felt further from her starting origins in life until the day that she she first sat at the Grangers’ marble kitchen counter on a grey, drizzly Sunday afternoon, speaking politely with Hermione’s parents over a cup of unsweetened Earl Grey and a few homemade cinnamon biscuits, all while doing her utmost to avoid dropping crumbs over the open copy of ‘Modern Medical Dentistry’ that lay on the counter. Someone had apparently been in the process of reading it recently, since she noticed that a yellow highlighter lay uncapped beside the medical journal that had already highlighted a few key phrases in the current article, which was full of technical language that Skyla wasn’t even sure was English.</p><p>She had noticed a few things about the Grangers’ cosy, two bedroom house already and all she had done so far was walk inside and sit down in the kitchen. It wasn’t a large property by any means, however it was clearly well designed and boasted many interesting pieces of muggle technology that Skyla had never seen before and didn’t understand in the slightest. She had watched Hermione’s mother go to the sink to fill the kettle, only to end up staring in surprise as the entire tap was lifted from its bracket like a handheld shower-head. She had no idea that sinks could even do that and she couldn’t help but feel like a complete and utter stranger in this world, despite having grown up with muggles (on a technicality, at least).</p><p>Hermione’s parents, Jean and David Granger, were still politely waiting for a response to what was the most difficult, yet also the most common, request.</p><p>“So Skyla, tell us about yourself.”</p><p>Skyla played idly with the edge of her biscuit as she struggled to come up with an appropriate answer.</p><p>“Well, I’m… nothing special. I spent my whole life in an orphanage and started going to Hogwarts this year, the same as Hermione. That’s about it really.”</p><p>Hermione, sitting on a stool beside Skyla, couldn’t help snorting into her own biscuit and ended up having a mild coughing fit while receiving a rather disapproving look from her parents across the counter.</p><p>“Sorry,” Hermione said quickly as she brushed herself down and cleared her throat, “it’s just… ‘nothing special’ isn’t quite how I would describe her. She’s too humble to tell the truth.”</p><p>“Oh? Well go on dear,” Jean said to Hermione, “tell us what the ‘truth’ of young ‘Skyla Potter’ here is then.”</p><p>Hermione looked at Skyla questioningly, who mumbled something that sounded like ‘go ahead’ in response, so Hermione plunged straight into the full story of ‘Skyla Potter’ on her behalf with a startling degree of accuracy, given that Skyla had only talked about a few of the events once before. </p><p>“-Dark Lord, who murdered her parents and then was destroyed by Skyla when she was just a-”</p><p>“-terrible orphanage where she was kept in a cellar, yes, an actual cellar, with bars and everything-”</p><p>“-Hagrid was sent out after she didn’t reply to her Hogwarts letter and apparently broke her out-”</p><p>“-ripped bars off the walls and such, didn’t you say, Sky? Must have been a sight to see! Anyway-”</p><p>“-stayed at the Leaky Cauldron until Hogwarts started and go to know the alley-”</p><p>“-best in our year at Defense and Charms-”</p><p>“-youngest seeker in a century, that’s a sport played on broomsticks-”</p><p>The girl really did have a fantastic memory.</p><p>“You really paid a lot of attention to her life story, didn’t you?” Jean said to Hermione with a small smile.</p><p>Hermione paused for a moment before replying indignantly, “well, of course! She’s my best friend. Of course I paid attention to the things she has told me.”</p><p>“She knows my story better than I do,” Skyla couldn’t help but comment, getting a chuckle out of both Jean and David.</p><p>“Well she was sharing very important things with me,” Hermione said with a frown, “of course I was going to pay attention, what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?”</p><p>“Alright, alright!” Jean said with her hands raised in surrender and amusement in her face.</p><p>“Anyway,” Hermione continued after a moment, “she’s a wonderful person who has had a very unfair life, but she is very talented and an incredibly fast learner when she puts her mind to something. I thought it might be nice for her to come stay with us for Christmas, rather than sit alone at Hogwarts. Not that ours are particularly fancy or anything, but-”</p><p>“That’s very sweet of you ‘Mione,” Jean commented.</p><p>“And she’s more than welcome to stay of course,” David said, before frowning slightly as he continued, “but this ‘orphanage’ sounds like a right piece of work. It sounds shady, and frankly downright illegal. How hasn’t it been closed down?”</p><p>“Well Beatrice was always talking about it,” Skyla shrugged, “I think its days are numbered, one way or the other.”</p><p>“A small comfort.”</p><p>Skyla shrugged again; she didn’t know how she felt about that and she had done her best to simply put any thoughts of the orphanage from her mind whenever they reared their head. The orphanage wasn’t doing all that much for the kids there, but at the same time, what would have happened without it? It was far too much for her to comprehend and she didn’t particularly want to ever think about the place again.</p><p>“Well,” Jean added with a warm smile in an apparent effort to change the subject, “it’s quite exciting to have Hermione’s first friend over, I must admit. We only wish we could have had more notice to prepare something a bit nicer than just an old mattress on the floor!”</p><p>“On old mattress on the floor is a blessing to some,” Skyla said earnestly, “I am more than happy to sleep on it.”</p><p>Neither Jean or David seemed particularly happy about Skyla’s comment, but they said nothing about it.</p><p>“You girls go on upstairs and relax,” Jean said with a smile, “dinner will be ready around six.”</p><p>“Okay, do you need a hand with-” Hermione began, but her mother raised her hand in front of her.</p><p>“You let me worry about dinner. Go help Skyla get settled in and unpacked,” Jean said firmly, giving David a poignant look.</p><p>“Alright…”</p><p>Hermione and Skyla hopped off their stools and headed out to the hallway, grabbing their bags and making for the stairs while David swung the door that led into the kitchen closed behind them.</p><p>“I don’t know what that was all about,” Hermione said quietly with a frown as they climbed the stairs.</p><p>“Something I said?” Skyla asked with worry.</p><p>“Who knows,” Hermione sighed.</p><p>The girls could do little more than speculate however so they were forced to shrug and make their way to Hermione’s room, where they both would be staying for the week or so. It was a much shorter holiday than the muggle schooling system had but Hermione had already reasoned to Skyla that it was likely due to magical folk being able to teleport around whenever they liked. The need for long holidays was slightly diminished when you could spin on the spot a few times and end up in another country. </p><p>Hermione still had plenty of muggle clothes left at home so she had only brought back a few essentials that she needed, although as per usual Skyla had everything she owned tucked neatly into her bottomless bag. It really had been an absolutely amazing gift; even if she had paid for it herself.</p><p>She was distracted from her thoughts as they navigated the hallway together and Skyla got a chance to see the neat and tidy upstairs bedrooms, that were both open and displaying a very modern and clean look to both the furniture and the bedding.</p><p>“Your house is amazing!” Skyla commented in awe.</p><p>“It’s a little small,” Hermione admitted, “but there’s only the three of us so Dad always said there’s no need to upsize just for the sake of it.”</p><p>Skyla shook her head, “it’s perfect, I love it.”</p><p>Hermione had nothing to respond to that with, however her slightly rosy cheeks and happy smile said enough.</p><p>“This is my room.”</p><p>She sheepishly indicated to the room on the left which had a single bed in the corner and a mattress on the ground next to it. There was a simple white, wooden desk against a modest window that overlooked the rather affluent street that the Grangers lived in, and a large, but tidy, bookshelf that was full of old textbooks, medical journals and other advanced educational material. Skyla found it rather strange that aside from a few hair ties that were hanging on one of the bedposts and a small mirror in the far corner that had a purple sticker on it, there were very little other signs that anyone had ever lived in the room at all, let alone a soon-to-be teenage girl. Skyla’s own living conditions may have been an utter mess, but she had still tried to personalise whatever she could.</p><p> It seemed that Hermione had done the opposite.</p><p>“These look quite interesting,” Skyla commented as she browsed the bookshelf and peered at the various titles and thick leather-bound books.</p><p>“They’re all pretty dry,” Hermione said indifferently, “it’s mostly a lot of intense and technical terminology about medicine. Most of them are from when my parents went to university and they just ended up on my shelves, one way or another.”</p><p>“Anatomy and physiology fundamentals,” Skyla mused as she pulled a large book out and began to flick through it, “you weren’t kidding… this… what is ‘pulse oximetry’? Oh look there’s pictures of… what is that?”</p><p>Hermione chuckled slightly and sat down on the bed, being joined a moment later by Skyla who brought the book over with her.</p><p>“Oh that. It’s a cross-section of a heart. See this part here? These are the vena cava and they supply blood back to the heart, here. Then it goes from here all the way up into the lungs and it gets oxygen, then comes back down here-”</p><p>“Woah,” Skyla said with fascination, “wait, this is what’s happening inside us? Right now?”</p><p>“I know, it’s kind of weird to think about.”</p><p>“Huh.”</p><p>Hermione idly watched Skyla for a few moments as she flicked through the chapter with intrigue.</p><p>“I didn’t expect anyone to be interested in my muggle textbooks,” she eventually said quietly, “most of the other kids always wanted to go and play football at the park or go down to the shop. It’s why I never had anyone come over; no-one was interested in the things that liked.”</p><p>“The only thing I ever did was read,” Skyla replied absently, “read or think, and thinking wasn’t always… fun. I only wish I had the same chances to write.”</p><p>She frowned to herself as she thought of her abysmal handwriting; she still physically cringed every time she handed over her essays, even though none of her teachers had really commented on it yet.</p><p>“Your writing has improved a lot now though,” Hermione said encouragingly, “really, it looks so much better now.”</p><p>“I did have a pretty good teacher.”</p><p>Hermione smiled, but waved her hand absently saying, “I just gave a few pointers, that’s all.”</p><p>“Well they were good pointers.”</p><p>Skyla continued to contentedly read the rather heavy (figuratively and literally) textbook, until Hermione got her attention once again.</p><p>“Do you want to do something else?” Hermione asked hesitantly, “don’t feel like you have to sit here and do this. I don’t really have a lot here but we can-I don’t know, it’s not raining too bad so we could go for a walk or-”</p><p>Skyla shook her head and scooted back further onto the bed.</p><p>“This is interesting. Unless you wanted to do something else?”</p><p>Hermione shook her own head with a slight smile.</p><p>“As long as you are happy doing it. I just don’t want to bore you.”</p><p>“I haven’t really read anything like this before, I mostly read stories, not actual scientific stuff. Did you ever read The Hobbit?”</p><p>“No, I’m the opposite; I mostly read educational material from my parents, not stories. What’s it about?”</p><p>Skyla excited launched into the rather detailed recollection of the classic tale, that she had learned almost by heart.</p><p>“-and then, you wouldn’t believe it, they argued all the way into morning and when the sun rose… turned into stone, just like that! I can’t even remember if I was laughing or crying but it was so gripping and then-”</p><p>Skyla paused as she realised that Hermione was simply staring at her with a strange smile.</p><p>“What is it?” she asked with concern, “is there something on my face?”</p><p>“No,” Hermione laughed, “no, I just… I like seeing you like this. I haven’t seen it much lately.”</p><p>“Things have been… hard,” Skyla sighed, “but you were right about getting away from everything for awhile. It’s nice to be away from it and just… sit here and talk. Especially about books; I don’t think anyone in our year has any interest in reading at all. Even Neville, as much as he tries, clearly isn’t into it in the same way.”</p><p>“I think maybe it’s just a magical family thing,” Hermione mused, “I mean, look at those with the deepest history in their families; Draco Malfoy, Ronald Weasley, even Neville as you said; none of them seem inclined to study books and most of their knowledge seems to come from their family by being passed down through the generations.”</p><p>“Maybe it’s some kind of anti-muggle thing,” Skyla suggested, “since muggles are big on books for learning.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Hermione scoffed, “but there’s so much that could be gained for both sides if they were to work together. Can you imagine the possibilities of combining muggle technology with magic? The things we could achieve-”</p><p>“You know, I think my mother thought the same thing,” Skyla laughed, “she had a vault full of experimental stuff in Gringotts; muggle stuff that she was apparently tinkering with and adding magic to or something.”</p><p>“Really? That’s interesting.”</p><p>“Yeah… but she never got to finish any of it.”</p><p>“... yeah. That’s such a shame.”</p><p>The two trailed off into silence at her words.</p><p>“Do you… do you think about them a lot?” Hermione eventually asked hesitantly.</p><p>“I- well yes, sometimes,” Skyla admitted, “I mean, I know that I can’t bring them back or anything so I know there’s not much point thinking about it but… it’s hard not to think about what my life could have been like if they were still alive.”</p><p>Hermione sighed softly and scooted herself closer to Skyla until both girls were sitting shoulder to shoulder on Hermione’s bed, with their backs against the wall and staring across the room at the window upon which the rain was still lightly pattering against the glass in a gentle tapping.</p><p>“I know that I’m very lucky to have both of my parents,” Hermione said quietly, “and sometimes I feel guilty around you. Especially when I talk about my upbringing or my childhood. I feel guilty about feeling like I had it bad when you had it a thousand times worse.”</p><p>“It’s not a competition.”</p><p>“No, it’s not, but… still.”</p><p>Skyla paused for a moment, before turning and appraising Hermione.</p><p>“I think… I think my mum would have liked you. I like to think so, anyway.”</p><p>“That’s a nice thing to think,” Hermione said with a sad smile, “I only wish that we could find out.”</p><p>“Yeah. Me too.”</p><p>The two continued to sit quietly for a time with the textbook lying open and abandoned on Skyla’s lap while she stared off into nothingness, lost in thought.</p><p>After a few moments, Hermione broke the silence once again.</p><p>“What made you go back to flying? After what happened?”</p><p>Skyla paused for a moment to think before responding.</p><p>“I needed something to distract myself from everything that’s been going on lately,” she admitted, “it’s nice to go out and fly and just think about… nothing. Just focus purely on chasing the snitch like nothing else matters. I don’t even really care about the game to be honest, or the team, or the score… I just like that feeling. Everything is simple then. Everything is open and free.”</p><p>“I’ll take your word for it,” Hermione said dryly, still very uncomfortable at the mere thought of flying. Skyla chuckled slightly and Hermione let out a single dry laugh, before she continued.</p><p>“I was really terrified when your broom split. I thought that surely someone would cast a spell or something to catch you, but no-one did and we lost sight of you when you got blown over the forest.”</p><p>“The pitch is enchanted to soften falls,” Skyla explained, “so I bet they thought I would be fine but the enchantment doesn’t extend beyond the boundaries. It was so unlucky that we had that weather for our game though; and even then I probably wouldn’t have been blown as far out of bounds if not for that one freak gust too. I’m just lucky that Cho was still in the air and was able to reach me in time, she’s such a good flyer. They deserved the win.”</p><p>Skyla felt a little guilty as she recalled Wood’s face as he had explained to her that Madam Hooch had called the game due to injury to both seekers and that Gryffindor had been behind on points at the time. He hadn’t argued against the fairness of it, but… Skyla had thought that a funeral might have been a less depressing place to be than the Gryffindor locker rooms at that point. She did almost die after all so she had hoped they might have been a little happier that she hadn’t; however Wood seemed to think it would have been a reasonable price for a victory, even if he didn’t come right out and say it.</p><p>Hermione pursed her lips and frowned slightly with apparent annoyance, which caused Skyla to pause.</p><p>“What is it? What did I say?”</p><p>“Oh nothing,” Hermione sighed, “it’s just-I don’t really like Cho. Something about her just rubs me the wrong way. Don’t get me wrong I’m so grateful that she saved you, but…”</p><p>“Wait, really? Why? She’s a lovely person. She’s very kind, she’s brave, she stuck her neck out to save me and she’s an amazing flyer. Plus, she must be very intelligent to be in Ravenclaw and-”</p><p>“-yes yes, she’s amazing,” Hermione said grumpily, “and stupidly pretty and perfect with her perfect hair and her perfect smile and-”</p><p>Skyla was highly confused at Hermione’s sudden outburst of anger, so she simply sat quietly and watched while Hermione rambled on for several minutes about Cho and how interesting, pretty, kind, brave, strong and intelligent she was, and how much that irritated her. Skyla failed to see why those traits were a problem or a reason to be disliked, or why it was making Hermione so angry, but Hermione seemed to be reaching a boiling point so Skyla tried to carefully direct her away from the topic.</p><p>“Well, at least I got a new broom out of all of that,” Skyla said, thinking fondly of her new broom that was locked away securely within an enchanted cupboard in the Gryffindor changing rooms. She hadn’t even had a chance to ride it yet, although admittedly she hadn’t been that excited about it at the time with everything that had been going on. Now that she was starting to feel better, she could actually appreciate the fact that she was allowed her own broom; and a racing broom at that.</p><p>Hermione sniffed slightly, apparently still slightly ruffled about Cho but with a dramatic sigh she managed to move on. </p><p>Eventually.</p><p>“You’ll get to try it when we get back,” Hermione said, “everyone seemed to think it was good quality so hopefully this one wont break.”</p><p>“I just need to be careful of flying too close to the forest,” Skyla grumbled quietly, “I did promise Sirius after all.”</p><p>“You promised Sirius that you wouldn’t fly too close to the forest?” Hermione asked curiously, “when did that conversation happen?”</p><p>“... Oh. Uh.”</p><p>Skyla suddenly realised her mistake as she watched the ever-astute Hermione begin to turn the cogs over within her brain, and her expression turned from idly curiosity into narrowed suspicion before her very eyes.</p><p>“You’ve spoken to him recently, haven’t you?”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“You did, didn’t you?” Hermione asked suspiciously, “when?”</p><p>“... it was not long after the incident in the forest,” Skyla reluctantly explained with a sigh, “and I know you don’t believe me about what I saw in there but I had to talk to someone so he… snuck into the castle.”</p><p>“He snuck into the castle?” Hermione asked with shock, “but, that’s meant to be impossible. There’s all kinds of wards and enchantments-”</p><p>“He knows a lot of the secret passageways in and out,” Skyla explained, “ever since he went to school here.”</p><p>“But even so, why would he risk coming into the school of all places?” Hermione asked, “he’s one of the most wanted people in all of magical Britain.”</p><p>“Because I needed help,” Skyla said quietly, “I needed someone to talk to and as soon as he knew something was wrong he came straightaway. He apparated all the way up here and snuck in just to talk to me about what I saw.”</p><p>“You couldn’t have just spoken to me?” Hermione asked with a slight sense of pained rejection in her voice.</p><p>“You didn’t believe me,” Skyla replied with exasperation, “and you still don’t-”</p><p>“Sky I-”</p><p>“But that doesn’t matter,” Skyla pressed on, attempting to squash the lump that was forming in her throat, “because all I need to do is make it through this until Sirius can sort out his plans and be a free man. Then he can help me. Then it will all be okay. Then I will be okay.”</p><p>“Sky… is this what’s been bothering you?”</p><p>“I wasn’t lying,” Skyla said quietly, “I didn’t hit my head, I wasn’t seeing hallucinations, it wasn’t some kind of ‘projected trauma’ or whatever else it was that Madam Pomfrey said about me. I know what I saw and I just… I wish you believed me. That’s all I wanted.”</p><p>A single tear rolled down Skyla’s cheek and Hermione stared at her in shock.</p><p>“Okay… Okay. Tell me again exactly what happened, I promise I’ll keep an open mind, okay?”</p><p>Skyla sighed and relayed the events of the forest once again to Hermione as the two sat side-by-side on the bed and watched the rain lightly fall upon the window in an almost comforting way. She detailed the events of the crash, the strange and unsettling presence in the air around her in the forest, the terrifying eyes that pierced into her soul and the invulnerable shadow that stalked her until she woke up in the hospital wing.</p><p>“... and then it was about a week later that I met with Sirius,” Skyla finished with, “that time I said I was going to go to the library?”</p><p>“I knew you were lying about that,” Hermione said thoughtfully and she almost sounded relieved, “but now it makes more sense… I thought you might have been-”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“... never mind,” Hermione said quickly, “so it was Sirius you met with. What did he say?”</p><p>Skyla relayed the conversation once again to Hermione.</p><p>“Hm. Well I suppose he had a fair point there,” Hermione reasoned, “it probably wouldn’t have been a good idea for you to say anything more about it to the others, it doesn’t sound good at all. But, I’m really sorry that you felt you couldn’t talk to me.”</p><p>Skyla just shrugged slightly; that was a fact that she was still quite upset about, herself.</p><p>Hermione sighed softly and surprised Skyla by suddenly reaching over and pulling her into a tight hug.</p><p>“I’m really sorry, Sky,” she whispered quietly, “I really, really am. I want you to trust me with these kind of things.”</p><p>“I do trust you,” Skyla said, “I know you won’t say anything to anyone but… it just hurt to know you didn’t believe me. And then it only got worse because I began to doubt myself and whether I had really seen it; I felt like I was going crazy and one thought lead to another and-”</p><p>“I understand that,” Hermione nodded as she pulled back and looked at Skyla, “I really do. Sometimes our thoughts run away and make things a lot worse than maybe they actually were. By the time we get to the end of things, we’ve dug ourselves into a hole we can’t get out of.”</p><p>“I-yeah. Exactly.”</p><p>“Is that why you came back to the common room so late that night? You must have been talking for ages. I thought that you had decided to sleep… somewhere else.”</p><p>Skyla paused.</p><p>“I-I guess so? I don’t remember,” Skyla frowned, “I came straight back up, didn’t I? I’m pretty sure I stopped talking to Sirius right around when curfew was starting.”</p><p>“it was really late when you got back,” Hermione said with a shake of her head, “I tried to stay up but I fell asleep. I remember you came back in and went to bed really late though.”</p><p>“I don’t even remember how I got back,” Skyla said, “what… what did we do the next day?”</p><p>“Um… we had Charms. Right, that’s right; it was when you couldn’t get your bouncing charm to work.”</p><p>“Really? I don’t remember that class at all.”</p><p>Hermione ogled Skyla slightly.</p><p>“You don’t remember that? You were struggling to get the charm to work and Flitwick was a bit disappointed. You told me that you had always struggled with that one.”</p><p>“I don’t remember ever trying to cast a bouncing charm in the past.”</p><p>“Huh.”</p><p>The two girls stared out the window in confusion, both lost in their own thoughts as they watched the last of the daylight began to slowly fade away.</p><p>“I’m scared, ‘Mione. Something is happening to me.”</p><p>“Something definitely sounds off about all of that,” Hermione agreed, “maybe… you should talk to Sirius again? Sounded like he might have had an idea about it.”</p><p>“I know he’s very busy with whatever he is doing,” Skyla said sadly, “and I don’t want to interrupt again. Not now, when he seems so close. He told me I just need to keep it together until he can do this, and then it will all be okay. I have to believe him.”</p><p>“... okay,” Hermione said after a moment, “okay. I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you before but… I believe you now.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Skyla replied quietly, “that’s all I needed.”</p><p>The two girls embraced once again with deep, worried breaths as they sat together on the bed and hugged each other tightly for support, and with a sense of anxiety at the implications of Skyla’s admissions.</p><p>“-inutes or so, your father is just putting-”</p><p>Whatever Jean had been saying as she turned at the top of the stairs and headed into Hermione’s room was suddenly cut short as she froze at the sight of the girls on Hermione’s bed.</p><p>“Sorry, what were you saying?” Hermione asked as she turned around to look at her mother questioningly, one arm still around Skyla’s shoulder.</p><p>Jean didn’t reply immediately and merely glanced back and forth between the two girls multiple times with a dawning realisation creeping over her features.</p><p>“... Mum?”</p><p>“Oh honey,” she said quietly, “I didn’t realise- but I suppose it all makes sense now doesn’t it, I should have realised sooner. I didn’t expect- well. I thought you were too young for all that, but… I guess being at a boarding school something like that is bound to come up at some point and-”</p><p>“Mum… what on earth are you talking about?”</p><p>Jean cleared her throat slightly.</p><p>“Well, she clearly makes you happy and I suppose that’s what matters, isn’t it?”</p><p>“Mum, are you feeling alright?”</p><p>Hermione looked at her mother, who was still looking back and forth between the girls with a strange expression that seemed halfway between loving and pitying, and it finally clicked what her mother was implying.</p><p>“Wait, oh you think we- no it’s not like-”</p><p>“It’s alright dear, I understand,” Jean said with a sympathetic nod, “before I met your father I had my own share of adventures, you know. I’ve been there myself, in-fact when I was on my placements there was a girl who worked in reception and-”</p><p>“Mum please,” Hermione said with growing mortification, “please don’t. Not another word-”</p><p>“I’m just saying that I know what you’re going through and-”</p><p>“Mum, stop.”</p><p>“I do wish you would have talked to me about it first, but I like to think that we are an accepting home here and we’ve always tried to-”</p><p>Hermione covered her face into her hands and threw herself down on her bed, refusing to hear another word.</p><p>“Well, I’ll tell you this much,” Jean said intently to Skyla (since Hermione clearly wasn’t listening), “Just be careful that you don’t rush into anything. You’re both still so young and you have all the time in the world. Don’t either of you try to grow up too quickly.”</p><p>“I feel like growing up quickly is what I do,” Skyla laughed dryly, “I sometimes think I’m not allowed to be young. The world won’t let me.”</p><p>“Hermione is very much the same,” Jean said softly with a gentle smile towards her daughter (who was still hiding her face and covering her ears), “she has always been ahead of the other children, in ways that we knew weren’t natural. At first we thought it was good that she was so intelligent, but… well, it hasn’t always been a good thing. Like I said; be careful not to grow up too quickly, or you might just miss out on some of the best things in life.”</p><p>Skyla was lost in deep thought at her words, and Jean simply placed a comforting hand softly on her shoulder, before giving her daughter a final fond look and heading for the door.</p><p>“Dinner will be ready shortly. We’ll keep this a secret between us for now, okay?”</p><p>Skyla wasn’t entirely sure what she was meant to be keeping a secret, but Jean departed before she could ask, leaving her alone with a severely embarrassed Hermione.</p><p>“That was painful,” Hermione mumbled, finally revealing her bright red face as she sat up again, “I definitely didn’t need to know that about Mum.”</p><p>“I’m a little confused,” Skyla admitted.</p><p>“Me too,” Hermione agreed, “I do sometimes wonder if everyone has these kind of thoughts or-”</p><p>“Huh? Wait, what are you talking about?” Skyla asked.</p><p>“... what are you talking about?”</p><p>“Your Mum, she was really confusing,” Skyla said.</p><p>“Oh. Yeah. Right. Ha. Yeah that’s what I meant too. Ha.”</p><p>Hermione laughed awkwardly and buried her face down into the bed once again.</p><p>“Sky?” she eventually mumbled out with a face-full of blanket.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Sometimes I wish I was you,” Hermione admitted.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“As much as I love you, I really wish I had your ability to be so oblivious.”</p><p>“Oblivious to what?”</p><p>Hermione laughed.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s go eat.”</p><p>“... Okay…”</p><p>***************</p><p>The two girls headed down to dinner (with Skyla still very lost in thought) and found an extravagant banquet being laid out on the dining table. David and Jean had clearly been working hard to prepare a lavish dinner and Skyla thought that they had done an even better job than the mysterious Hogwarts cooks (whoever they were).</p><p>“Come, sit down, let’s eat,” David said eagerly as he took his own seat next to Jean on one side of the table, leaving Skyla and Hermione to occupy the other.</p><p>“Thank you, this looks absolutely delicious,” Skyla said earnestly to both David and Jean, who both waved her off.</p><p>“Think nothing of it. Glad to provide,” David said fondly.</p><p>Skyla waited patiently until everyone else had served up their own portions before helping herself to a rather modest serving of chicken with a few roast vegetables. It smelled utterly delicious and her mouth was watering with excitement, especially since she had skipped breakfast that morning (which was not unusual behaviour for her).</p><p>“You can have more than that if you like,” David chuckled as he looked Skyla’s small serving, “don’t worry; it’s free.”</p><p>“Skyla has never really eaten much,” Hermione said as she began to slice her own chicken, “Even at Hogwarts, I’ve never seen her eat a lot.”</p><p>“I just get full very easily,” Skyla explained, “I can’t eat big meals. I don’t know how the others do it; I see some of them eating these mountains of food and it just makes me feel a bit sick to imagine doing that.”</p><p>“Well, suit yourself, but just make sure you don’t leave hungry,” David said firmly, “if you want more, make sure you help yourself.”</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>The four sat at the table eating in silence for a moment, until David looked over to Hermione.</p><p>“So how is school going?” he asked, “up in this… ‘magical’ school of yours.”</p><p>Hermione began to talk to her parents about her experience thus far with Hogwarts and was soon rattling off the various interesting spells that they had been learning, along with her general experiences of staying at a boarding school for the first time in her life. David and Jean began to ply themselves with a bottle of wine as they talked and it wasn’t long before all four were engaged in animated conversation about magic and study, which Skyla quite enjoyed. Jean had eventually taken over talking with her daughter about school while Skyla spoke with David instead. She discovered that Hermione’s father was quite funny and was full of all manner of bad jokes and amusing stories that had her giggling nonstop, to the man’s eager amusement. He seemed to enjoy making her laugh and his stories and anecdotes only got wilder and more dramatic, to the point where Skyla hadn’t even noticed that Hermione and Jean had stood up from the table due to her laughter.</p><p>“Glad to see you two getting along,” Jean laughed, “why don’t you two take it into the living room? Hermione and I will fix this up.”</p><p>“Oh, oh I can help clean up-” Skyla began, but she was cut off almost immediately.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it, dear,” Jean said, “you’re the guest, I insist. Besides, it will give me a chance to catch up properly with Hermione.”</p><p>Hermione looked at Skyla with slightly pleading eyes, apparently dreading whatever conversation was about to occur with her mother. With nothing to do about it however, Skyla simply shrugged and gave Hermione a little wave goodbye as she headed off with David into the living room. Resigned to her fate, Hermione began to scoop up plates while her mother’s eyes gleamed at the impending interrogation.</p><p>Skyla on the other hand, found herself a few moments later sitting in the living room with David, who began to conduct his own interrogation.</p><p>“Now, this is very important,” he said seriously, “this might be make or break for us right here so choose your next words very carefully. How the next week or so goes depends on your answer to this, nay- perhaps the rest of your entire life.”</p><p>“O-okay.”</p><p>Skyla sat up a little straighter and gulped slightly as he took a deep breath in and paused, before he eventually asked;</p><p>“Which football club do you follow?”</p><p>“Oh,” Skyla let out with a small laugh of relief, “uh. I mean, I don’t really know anything about football. It… has a ball that you kick around, right?”</p><p>Apparently she couldn’t have said anything worse, as David fell to the floor and clutched at his heart with pain etched across his face.</p><p>“Oh! Oh it’s even worse than I could have imagined!” he exclaimed dramatically, “the horror! The sheer… abuse you have been through! Well I absolutely refuse to stand for it! We’re going to fix this right here, right now, for your own good -NAY- for the good of the country! For the good of humanity!”</p><p>Skyla gulped; just exactly what had she gotten herself into?</p><p>***************</p><p>Almost an hour later, Jean and Hermione had finally returned from cleaning up the table (and discussing… whatever they had been discussing), and joined Skyla and David in the living room, who were deep into the second half of a football match being played out on the large television.</p><p>“Oh dad, you’re not making her watch this rubbish are you?” Hermione lamented at the sight.</p><p>“This rubbish?” David said with a gasp, “this was one of the greatest matches in the history of football! Well, for The Gunners anyway-”</p><p>“-that’s Arsenal,” Skyla pointed out knowingly, “a football club located about twenty minutes down the A1, fifteen with good traffic that was founded over a hundred years ago-”</p><p>“-and this match had been the first time in eighteen years that we finished atop the division, even despite the absolute travesty of that offside call-” David continued.</p><p>“-that’s when an attacking player is too far past the last defending player when the ball is passed-” Skyla explained with a wise and knowing aura around her as she nodded along thoughtfully.</p><p>“Oh god,” Hermione let out with exasperation, “what have you done to her? I leave you alone with her for a few minutes-”</p><p>“Honey,” Jean said with a sigh, “I agree. Please don’t try and convert Hermione’s only friend into an Arsenal supporter. That’s a new low.”</p><p>“That’s not the point!” Hermione exclaimed, “and besides; she plays quidditch, it’s nothing like football.”</p><p>“Well it has some similarities,” Skyla reasoned, “I mean, quidditch has goalposts too.”</p><p>“Yes it does; SIX of them.”</p><p>“Yeah but you still shoot balls through them.”</p><p>“That you throw, with your hands, while on a broom, in the air. While trying to avoid being knocked off your broom by other rampaging balls or the seven players on the other team. All the while, chasing the tiny golden snitch that is the make or break of an entire game that only one person is responsible for catching.”</p><p>“Like I said, hardly any difference,” Skyla said airily.</p><p>Hermione sighed in frustration and sat down on the sofa with a huff.</p><p>“You know,” David said thoughtfully, “I’ve never heard her talk about any sport to that length before. You must be really into this ‘quidditch’.”</p><p>“Not at all,” Hermione huffed, “it’s honestly a stupid game that is incredibly dangerous and has already almost cost Skyla her life.”</p><p>“Yet you seem to know it well enough. Know it inside and out it seems.”</p><p>“Well that’s-”</p><p>“-that’s probably because of Skyla,” Jean added with a slight smirk towards Hermione, “I imagine she learned the rules so she could go and watch. Right dear?”</p><p>Hermione’s blushed slightly and turned away in embarrassment, to the confusion of both Skyla and David. Jean simply chuckled and sat down next to her daughter, poking her lightly in the thigh in a teasing manner.</p><p>“Well, anyway… I guess that about covers the basics,” David said as he paused the match and sat back on the sofa, “the rest you just pick up through playing it really. That’s the best way to learn.”</p><p>“It’s not like I’ll really have a chance to ever do that,” Skyla pointed out, “people in the magical world are interested in quidditch and only quidditch. It’s kind of a big deal over there.”</p><p>“Well… it’s not meant to rain tomorrow? If you want we can go have a kick-about at the park-” David began excitedly, “I’ll play keeper and-”</p><p>“Dad,” Hermione began indignantly, “I KNOW that you are NOT trying to steal my best friend and make her go play football with you.”</p><p>“That... actually sounds like it could be fun!” Skyla said eagerly, “now that I know what’s involved it’s a bit more interesting. Can we go?”</p><p>Hermione sighed loudly and folded her arms in a huff, however she wasn’t able to maintain her annoyance for very long. Not after she saw Skyla’s excited face and eager grin.</p><p>“Oh… oh, I guess… fine… but I’m absolutely rubbish at football,” Hermione huffed, “I’ll just come and watch.”</p><p>“You’re not rubbish,” David said dismissively, “you just fell over one time and refused to play after that.”</p><p>“Exactly, I fell over,” Hermione said grumpily, “absolutely humiliating.”</p><p>“Happens to the best of us,” David said, but Hermione shook her head with utter refusal.</p><p>“Well, at least she’s going with you,” Jean pointed out, “even if I think her eyes won’t be on the ball.”</p><p>“Mum, stop,” Hermione said with exasperation.</p><p>Jean chuckled with self-satisfaction for a moment, however she apparently decided to give her daughter a break and instead playfully snatched the remote out of an unprepared David’s hand, which resulted in a half-hearted play-wrestle for the controls as they rolled on the sofa and Skyla and Hermione were both forced to jump out of the way.</p><p>“Ha!” Jean cried out as she eventually held the remote up in the air, “to the victor goes the spoils!”</p><p>The rest of the evening was spent watching a romantic comedy that Skyla ‘simply must see’, much to David’s great dismay.</p><p>***************</p><p>“Oh, I see our girl’s got some skills!” David called out with a grin, “you’ve really never played this before…?”</p><p>Skyla shrugged, “seems pretty straight forward. Kick the ball into the net.”</p><p>David laughed, “well that is about the brunt of it, yes. This time though, try striking with the inside of your foot, like this-”</p><p>Hermione rolled her eyes slightly at the conversation that she was idly watching as she sat to the side at the park bench, reading through some of her muggle material that she had been meaning to catch up on. With the sudden revelation that she was to attend a magical high-school (and having had very little warning in advance) she had mostly been studying material relating to magic for the past few months and had neglected her muggle studies entirely in order to ‘catch up’. If only she had known from the start just how lax some of the magical students would be.</p><p>“Sweetie, come on, it’s the holidays,” Jean said quietly to Hermione as she sat down next to her daughter at the bench, “I admire your dedication to your education but you should really go and play with them.”</p><p>Hermione looked up to see Skyla attempting, with David’s eager advice, a very difficult curved shot at the goalposts. She wasn’t quite getting it right, but for someone who had never played a sport like this before she was rather good at it. Better than Hermione was, at any rate. It seemed that Skyla’s ability to quickly pick up new skills continued to serve her well.</p><p>“They’re having fun,” Hermione replied airily, “I won’t interrupt them.”</p><p>“I’m sure they would both love for you to go and join them,” her mother reasoned, “I know your father has always wanted to play with you.”</p><p>“I am well aware of that.”</p><p>Hermione frowned; she loved her father but it had always been an uncomfortable sticking point between them. During his rare time off he had always wanted to go and play sports or go adventuring, or rock climbing, or all manner of dangerous and difficult things while she wanted nothing more than to study her books and learn more about science, math or now; magic. She knew that he was proud of her academic success but she was also all too aware that he had always wanted to have a son to go and do all the ‘boyish’ things that he wanted to do, which she did not. It often made her feel guilty for existing and sometimes she had to remind herself that she hadn’t exactly chosen to come into the world of her own accord.</p><p>“Hermione,” Jean said with a soft sigh, “studying and learning is important, don’t get me wrong. I think it’s great that you are always motivated but I think you need to get out there some more. Get away from the books for awhile and go play. Believe me when I say that all the academic success in the world won’t make you feel good about your life; it’s all about the memories and the experiences you collect along the way.”</p><p>“I understand.”</p><p>“I’m not sure you do honey,” Jean continued gently, “I think you’ll look back on moments like this one day, and I just want you to be happy with your choices.”</p><p>“I’ve never been into football, Mum, you know that.”</p><p>“This isn’t about football sweetie…” Jean said softly, “… don’t you want to go and play with her?”</p><p>Hermione raised an eyebrow towards her mother, and followed her gaze out onto the grass where a determined looking Skyla was trying to line up her perfect shot, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth slightly as she concentrated. It was a rather cute look as she focused, and Hermione had to admit that Skyla looked in her element as she swung her leg and struck the ball with grace, just barely having her high arcing shot blocked by the outstretched fingertips of David’s diving save. Hermione chuckled as she watched Skyla frown slightly in frustration, yet when David threw the ball back out to her she simply placed it in position and began to focus and concentrate once again for her next shot.</p><p>“She’s a troubled girl,” Jean said sadly, “she’s been abused, Hermione. It’s plain to see.”</p><p>“Yeah, I know. I want to help her.”</p><p>“Then go on this journey with her,” Jean advised, “let go of your own fears so you can help her let go of hers. I promise you honey, the last thing you want in life is to look back on moments like these and regret what you did, or what you didn’t, do.”</p><p>Hermione silently considered her mother’s words, however Jean said nothing further and surprisingly, got to her feet and headed out onto the grass herself.</p><p>“Go on, give it here,” Jean called out to a surprised Skyla, who only hesitated for a moment before happily passing the ball over to her.</p><p>“Oh? The away coach is down on his luck it seems,” David called out playfully from his position at the goalposts as his wife took the ball, “he’s had to call up his reserves for this match. Straight off the bench, unproven, straight into the spotlight-”</p><p>Skyla let out a cheer as Jean, in nothing but her casual trainers and denim jeans, lightly tapped the ball forward into position with her left foot before suddenly striking the ball with a powerful blow from her right, sending it curving behind a scrambling David into the corner of the net.</p><p>At the sight of David’s face, both Skyla and Jean burst into laughter and Jean reached out to high-five Skyla, who eagerly returned the gesture.</p><p>“That was really cool!” Skyla said excitedly, “where did you learn to do that?”</p><p>“Well I had a life before I met David,” Jean winked, “sometimes he likes to forget that.”</p><p>“That wasn’t fair, I wasn’t ready,” David said with a huff as he threw the ball back out from the net.</p><p>“Here Skyla, you take the next shot,” Jean said with a chuckle as she passed the ball over.</p><p>“... can I try?”</p><p>Everyone looked over as Hermione approached hesitantly. After a moment of surprise, Skyla burst into a smile and passed the ball over to Hermione excitedly. Jean gave her a fond smile and a brief wink as she received the pass, slowly moving it a few paces closer to the goals.</p><p>“Go on, ‘Mione!” Skyla said happily, “you can do it!”</p><p>“A-alright…”</p><p>Hermione took a breath and stared at the goalposts for a few moments, before drawing her leg back and swinging as hard as she could. She connected with the tip of her toes and sent the ball sailing, at a very impressive height, well above the crossbar.</p><p>“Oh…”</p><p>Hermione’s face fell slightly at the wayward shot, but Skyla let out a surprised sound.</p><p>“Woooah! What a kick! You got some impressive legs.”</p><p>Jean snorted loudly and buried her face into her shoulder, doing her utmost to not completely lose it in the middle of the park and failing miserably.</p><p>“Can I try again?” Hermione asked, ignoring her mother.</p><p>“Go for it.”</p><p>After a few attempts, and with some advice from a still giggling Jean, Hermione managed to eventually send the ball flying directly into the left post, before it bounced off into the back of the net behind David’s outstretched hand.</p><p>“I did it!”</p><p>Her parents cheered happily for her while Skyla rushed forward and almost tackled her in an excited hug. The glow on Hermione’s cheeks radiated for several hours after that, and Jean strongly suspected that Hermione’s giddiness didn’t have anything to do with her successful goal.</p><p>In fact, as Jean picked up Hermione’s abandoned book on the way home with a slight smile, she suspected that her daughters’ thoughts were very, very far away from anything to do with football.</p><p>***************</p><p>“Christmas shopping?” Skyla asked curiously, “what do you mean?”</p><p>“Yeah I still need to get some things for mum and dad,” Hermione explained while attempting to fruitlessly run a comb through her hair in front of her mirror, “so I asked if we could go to Diagon Alley. They’re going to drop us off at the entrance and do their own shopping in the city center, and we’ll meet back at the Leaky Cauldron.”</p><p>It was the morning of Christmas Eve and the girls had enjoyed a rather lazy morning, although Hermione had still awoken before Skyla by a good hour or two, and both girls had arisen long before Jean and David had stumbled into the kitchen for their morning coffee. They were in the middle of getting ready in Hermione’s bedroom, discussing their plans for the day.</p><p>“What do you need to get?” Skyla queried.</p><p>“Just Christmas gifts,” Hermione said, “you know, the usual. I have a little pocket money set aside for it but nothing too fancy.”</p><p>“What do you mean by Christmas gifts?”</p><p>“What do you mean by… what do I mean?”</p><p>“What makes these gifts different than normal gifts?”</p><p>“Did you-” Hermione began before pausing, “-did you never do that? Exchange Christmas gifts?”</p><p>“No,” Skyla shook her head, “at Christmas we were usually told the same story about Jesus and then maybe had some donated pudding or something if we were lucky, but I never really liked those anyway. They were always kind of… bitter, you know?”</p><p>Hermione frowned for a moment, how exactly did one explain Christmas traditions?</p><p>“Well I think a lot of families do things differently,” Hermione began thoughtfully, “but we’ve always given each other a gift on Christmas day that we think they wouldn’t have gotten for themselves. Something that they like, or enjoy, but might seem like a waste of time or money otherwise, you know? It doesn’t have to be expensive, it’s more just taking notice of the kind of things they like and giving them something thoughtful.”</p><p>Skyla considered the prospect for a moment.</p><p>“That’s quite nice,” she eventually said, “what kind of things do you give?”</p><p>“Well last year I got mum a box of Galaxy chocolate,” Hermione smirked, “you’ve probably noticed we don’t do a lot of sweets around here but she does enjoy that particular chocolate. She doesn’t eat it often so I thought I would get that for her.”</p><p>“I see…” Skyla nodded along, “because she can’t normally have it, you give it at Christmas instead.”</p><p>“Yeah and I got dad a set of whisky stones; you freeze them and put them in your drink and it keeps them cool without watering it down. He doesn’t drink a lot of whiskey but he has a bottle that he sometimes has a bit from, every now and then. I got the idea from an ad on the telly,” Hermione sheepishly admitted at the end.</p><p>“I think I’m starting to get it,” Skyla said slowly, “so we’re going to try and get the same kind of things from Diagon Alley?”</p><p>“Well not exactly the same, just something interesting, or thoughtful.”</p><p>“Yeah okay, that’s a good idea,” Skyla nodded seriously, “I wanted to pay everyone back for having me so that’s-”</p><p>“Oh no,” Hermione interrupted, “don’t go down that road, this isn’t about money. In fact it’s the opposite; it’s about trying to find thoughtful little gifts that don’t cost much. Besides, no-one expects you to get anyone anything, this is just something that we do.”</p><p>“I’d like to do it,” Skyla insisted.</p><p>“Well you’re welcome to do so, just… don’t go blowing a heap of money, okay?”</p><p>“Okay,” Skyla nodded, “I’ll be very reserved.”</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>They eventually made it to Diagon Alley an hour and a half later to find that, surprisingly, the alley seemed to be reasonably quiet. The Leaky Cauldron had no customers at all, unlike muggle London which was swarming with crowds of last-minute shoppers. It seemed that Christmas in the muggle world was a much bigger affair than in the magical one, or perhaps more commercial, at any rate.</p><p>“Skyla!” Tom boomed happily as she walked in with Hermione, having split from Jean and David after agreeing upon a return time, “welcome home!”</p><p>“Hello Tom!” Skyla said happily as she ran over towards the bar, “it’s so good to see you. Is Sam around?”</p><p>“Is that Skyla I hear out there?” A voice called from the kitchen in the back.</p><p>“Oh, now you can hear is it?” Tom called back, “but when I tell you that room seven needs the toilet fixing again your ears apparently fall off.”</p><p>“Ah they do that sometimes, ain’t nothin’ I can control,” Sam said with a wink to Skyla as he emerged from the back, ““Alrigh’ Skyla? How you doin’?”</p><p>“I’m doing rather well,” Skyla said happily, “I’ve been staying with my friend Hermione for the holidays. It’s been great.”</p><p>She indicated to Hermione beside her, who gave a small wave.</p><p>“Hello,” she said politely.</p><p>“Oh there’s nice,” Tom said with a smile and a slight bow of his head, “I’m Tom. This is Sam. Seen you come through before but we didn’t talk much then, you was just passin’ through. Good to see you made a friend, Skyla. We were actually wondering if you were coming back here over Christmas or not.”</p><p>“Oh,” Skyla said as her face fell, “oh I hope I didn’t disappoint you or anything-”</p><p>“Bah, I told him,” Sam said with a wave of his hand, “young Skyla’s gonna go up to that school and make a thousand friends and move on past some old has-beens like us. It’s how it goes, don’t stress yourself none over it.”</p><p>“I just didn’t want to bother you,” Skyla explained earnestly, “I thought you might be busy and you’d have to clear out a room for me and-”</p><p>“My dear you’ve always got a room here,” Tom said kindly, “the same room in-fact. It’s your room.”</p><p>“Kept it clear he has,” Sam snickered, “won’t let no-one rent it.”</p><p>“That’s Skyla Potter’s room until my dying day,” Tom said proudly, “I won’t hear a word of it otherwise and not a soul bar you, me and her will step foot in it.”</p><p>“That’s very generous of you,” Hermione said in surprise.</p><p>“Yeah he’s a real hero that one,” Sam said as he faked wiping away tears from his eyes, “keepin’ Skyla’s room just for her when we have six other ones completely unoccupied. He goes above and beyond.”</p><p>“I think he is a hero,” Skyla said quietly, “he is to me, anyway. I’ll never forget what he did for me.”</p><p>“Aha! You see, Sam?” Tom said triumphantly, “the Girl-Who-Lived calling ME a hero! Talented AND humble to boot.”</p><p>“Sam is a hero too,” Skyla added with a smile, “you really saved my life. I wouldn’t be here without both of you.”</p><p>Sam blinked repeatedly before once again wiping fake tears away from his ears.</p><p>“Ahem, ah, well, yes I uh-I better…”</p><p>Sam sniffled slightly and quickly turned his face away before darting back off to the kitchen. It was only then that Skyla realised that perhaps those tears hadn’t been faked after all.</p><p>“Soft bugger at heart he is,” Tom chuckled, “and he’s missed you dearly, truth be told.”</p><p>“I’m so sorry, I promise I’ll come visit next time!”</p><p>“Ah, you’re here now anyway,” Tom smiled, “think nothing of it. Doing some shopping, are you?”</p><p>“Yeah, some Christmas shopping,” Skyla said a little proudly, “Hermione’s parents are off in muggle London and we’re going to meet back here afterwards, so our stuff can all be secret,” she added mischievously.</p><p>“And rightly so,” Tom nodded with a chuckle, “say no more my dear, say no more. I’ll keep an eye out for them and look after them when they arrive.”</p><p>“You’re the best, Tom.”</p><p>Skyla darted around the bar and gave him a quick hug, while he chuckled and pat her lightly on the head.</p><p>“Alright,” Skyla said as she returned to Hermione, “no time to waste!”</p><p>She grabbed Hermione by the hand and began to drag her out the back to the magical barrier.</p><p>“You’re in a good mood,” Hermione laughed.</p><p>“Well the last few days have been really great,” Skyla smiled, “and I’m looking forward to this. I’ve been having the time of my life.”</p><p>“I’m so glad to hear that,” Hermione said fondly, “alright, let’s go have an experience.”</p><p>***************</p><p>Skyla opened her eyes the following morning and looked up to see a fully dressed Hermione crouching above her while reaching down and shaking her shoulders.</p><p>“Skyla, wake up!”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>“It’s already seven, come on, get up!”</p><p>“Hermione, it’s the holidays,” Skyla yawned, “we can sleep in a little can’t we?”</p><p>“It’s Christmas morning!” Hermione exclaimed impatiently, “come on! I wanna go and do presents! Let’s go!”</p><p>Skyla groaned slightly as she dragged herself out of bed, but as soon as she was on her feet the excitement began to slowly kick in.</p><p>“Let me just change real quick.”</p><p>“Okay, but hurry up.”</p><p>Skyla quickly undressed out of her pajamas and threw on a T-shirt and tracksuit trousers while Hermione pointedly looked away; which was rather odd as she had dressed in front of Hermione dozens of times previously. She shrugged however and finished getting ready, eventually heading downstairs to find Hermione’s parents yawning over their cups of coffee.</p><p>“Good morning girls,” David said with a yawn, “sleep well?”</p><p>“It was fine,” Hermione said excitedly, “now let’s do presents!”</p><p>“Well Merry Christmas to you too,” Jean mumbled tiredly, though with a hint of amusement in her voice, “don’t I get a hug first?”</p><p>Hermione tsk’d with impatience, however she moved over to her mother and gave her a quick hug.</p><p>“You’re much more excited than normal,” David commented.</p><p>“She’s got more reasons to be excited this year,” Jean said knowingly while Hermione looked away with a slight blush forming.</p><p>“Alright,” David yawned again, “well let’s do this.”</p><p>Skyla couldn’t help but feel slightly anxious as David dug out the various wrapped boxes that had been placed under a modest tree in the corner and began to hand them out to their new owners. She merely hoped her gifts were appropriate; they had all been very spur of the moment and was worried that they wouldn’t be suitable, or worse, might even offend someone.</p><p>Despite there only being four people present, Skyla had somehow ended up with five presents, and she raised an eyebrow when she realised that three of them had come from Hermione.</p><p>“When did you have time to get all these?” Skyla asked curiously.</p><p>“I got them mailed out to me in the school year,” Hermione admitted, “I’ve been holding onto them for awhile. Oh… you got me something too?” </p><p>Hermione looked at the tag of one of her presents to see that it said;</p><p>“To Hermione,</p><p>Love, Skyla.”</p><p>“When did YOU get this?” Hermione asked, confused, “we were together all day yesterday.”</p><p>“I have my ways,” Skyla said mischievously. Hermione raised an eyebrow but Skyla offered no further explanation.</p><p>Go on girls, you do yours first,” Jean said as she joined them, coffee still in hand.</p><p>Hermione apparently decided to save Skyla’s gift for last and first began to open the gifts from her parents.</p><p>“I didn’t think you would get me a book,” Hermione said in surprise to her mother as she began to unwrap her mother’s present and realised what it was, “not after… our conversation.”</p><p>“Well, funny you should say that. You might find it quite relevant to that, actually.”</p><p>Hermione read the title and suddenly blushed bright red, immediately stuffing the book underneath her legs and sitting on it so no-one else could see the title.</p><p>“What? What is it?” Skyla asked as she tried to get a look, however Hermione absolutely refused to budge and her mother only chuckled, giving nothing further away.</p><p>“Right, anyway,” Hermione said as she cleared her throat, “moving on.”</p><p>She opened the gift from her father to find several packets of ordinary, cheap, black and blue ink pens.</p><p>“Well I thought I’d get you some pens,” he said with a grin, “I can only assume you don’t own any up there since you never write to us.”</p><p>“Oh Dad…”</p><p>David chortled to himself with satisfaction for a while.</p><p>“I’m just kidding,” he eventually said while Hermione rolled her eyes, “but pens are always useful, are they not?”</p><p>“They are…”</p><p>David chuckled as he surprised Hermione by handing her another gift that he had kept hidden behind his back.</p><p>“Your real present,” he said with a wink.</p><p>Hermione pulled it open to once again find pens, however these were most certainly not cheap plastic pens. They were rather exquisite looking designer pens that had multiple shapes and sizes and had both regular ballpoints and fountain tips.</p><p>“I got the first one as a joke but then I thought you might like some actual, good quality pens,” David shrugged, “it never hurts to have some while studying.”</p><p>“Wow, these look really nice! Thank you!” Hermione commented as she inspected them.</p><p>“They’re really pretty,” Skyla added.</p><p>“I’m glad you like them,” David said happily, “go on, open Skyla’s.”</p><p>“Oh don’t expect too much,” Skyla said quickly, “just a little something.”</p><p>Hermione opened the wrapping to find a small, delicate, black fabric box inside that was no bigger than her palm. She peered at Skyla for a moment before lifting up the lid and as soon as she looked inside, she gasped in surprise.</p><p>“Skyla!”</p><p>“Oh my,” Jean commented with her hand over her mouth as she took a peek.</p><p>Inside the box was a fine silver necklace, or so Hermione thought until she picked it up and out of its carefully designed packaging. As she let the chain slide through her fingers she realised that it was incredibly light and smooth, and her surprise slowly turned into pure shock as she realised that it most certainly wasn’t silver; silver didn’t glimmer and sparkle when you moved it under the lights. Silver didn’t have small but elegant reflective crystals embedded onto each link in the chain. Silver didn’t come with a handwritten thank you note from the creator and the last time she checked, Silver necklaces didn’t tend to have a batch number on the box that said, ‘#3 of #5.”</p><p>“Skyla, where did you even get this?” Hermione gasped, “this is not a normal necklace.”</p><p>“I’m actually not sure,” Skyla admitted, “I… may have sent a note to Bleeding Eyes when you were in the loo yesterday. One of his people snuck it over to me before we left.”</p><p>“Wow,” Jean gasped as she moved closer and inspected the necklace, “this is amazing craftsmanship. I’ve never seen anything like it.”</p><p>“Bleeding Eyes?” David asked skeptically, “is that some kind of code name for your co-conspirator?”</p><p>“No, he’s the goblin who manages my family vaults,” Skyla explained, “it’s a full time job. There’s a lot of moving parts he has to manage with dividends and interest and shares and all that.”</p><p>“Really?” David asked with a look of surprise, “didn’t you grow up in an orphanage?”</p><p>“I didn’t know my parents had left me the vaults until I got to Diagon Alley,” Skyla explained, “so I didn’t have any of that money until now.”</p><p>David considered the implications for a moment before chuckling deeply.</p><p>“I bet your ‘Beatrice’ would have a fit if she knew you had this much money,” he laughed, “serves her right.”</p><p>Skyla thought about it for a second before starting to laugh as-well; if only Beatrice had known. Perhaps it was karma after all.</p><p>“Sky, I don’t think I can accept this,” Hermione said sadly, “this is… too much.”</p><p>“Is it?” Skyla said as she bit her lip nervously, “I didn’t realise. I just asked him to use some money from my vault to get something that looked nice as a gift for someone who was important to me. I wanted something with protective charms on it, to keep you safe.”</p><p>“Oh,” Hermione let out as she looked down at the necklace, “Oh, that’s sweet…”</p><p>“I told him not to spend too much,” Skyla said as she wrung her hands slightly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that he would get something fancy. I really did tell him not to spend too much-”</p><p>“That’s alright,” Jean said kindly, “don’t stress dear. As long as it didn’t put you out, that’s the main thing.”</p><p>“There’s… a lot of gold in there,” Skyla said with a shake of her head, “and besides, he’s my account manager. He knows more about what’s in there than I do.”</p><p>“A fair point,” Jean replied with a chuckle, “and Hermione loves it, don’t you?”</p><p>“Oh, I do, I really do,” Hermione said hesitantly, “but… can I really accept something like this?”</p><p>“Well, we’ve always said these gifts aren’t about the money,” Jean reasoned, “I guess that also applies both ways.”</p><p>“It seems like me and Skyla have a few more things in common then,” David laughed, “we both like spoiling you apparently.”</p><p>“I certainly feel very spoilt,” Hermione murmured.</p><p>“You said this thing has spells on it?” David asked curiously, “what does it do exactly?”</p><p>“I don’t really know,” Skyla admitted, “all I asked was that it be something to give Hermione that would help keep her safe in-case she was ever attacked by… something.”</p><p>“Something?”</p><p>Skyla shrugged evasively.</p><p>“There are a lot of dangerous things in the magical world…” she met Hermione’s eye with a knowing look, “anyway, when we were leaving someone floated it over to me when Hermione wasn’t looking so I just put it in my pocket. I hadn’t actually seen it yet and I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”</p><p>“Sneaky,” David chuckled with an appreciative look, “well played Skyla.”</p><p>“How did you even contact him?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“Magic,” Skyla said.</p><p>Hermione rolled her eyes, but she was distracted as Jean moved over and began to help her put the necklace on.</p><p>“It’s beautiful,” Jean commented, “and- wait, did it just-”</p><p>Jean paused and stared at the necklace in surprise as she finished clipping it together.</p><p>“What? What is it?”</p><p>“I think it just… shrunk.”</p><p>Jean shook her head slightly and inspected Hermione as the subtle but exquisite necklace hung neatly around her neck as if it had been custom made specifically for.</p><p>“Magic,” Hermione laughed.</p><p>“Does you feel any different?” Skyla asked curiously.</p><p>“I mean, not really,” Hermione replied thoughtfully, “but I feel… good. Relaxed. Also excited?”</p><p>“That’s normal,” Jean chuckled, “you’ll discover something to do with that in chapter twelve, where it talks about-”</p><p>Hermione turned around and clapped her hands directly over her mother’s mouth, to Jean’s great surprise.</p><p>“MFINH! MHGHMGH-”</p><p>Skyla laughed along with David at the sight, and she breathed out a small sigh of relief that everything seemed to have gone okay in the end and that Hermione did actually like her gift.</p><p>Eventually Hermione allowed her mother to speak again, and Jean cleared her throat slightly before saying pointedly, “Hermione, darling. Don’t you have something that you need to say…?”</p><p>Hermione blinked for a second before she turned back around to Skyla and tackled her in a tight hug.</p><p>“Thank you,” Hermione whispered as they hugged on the ground, “you really shouldn’t have and this is far too much and I don’t deserve this at all but… thank you. I love it.”</p><p>“I would buy the whole alley for you,” Skyla whispered seriously, “if I didn’t already know you would refuse it.”</p><p>“I know Sky, I know. It’s what I lo-like about you.”</p><p>“Oh so this is what you were hiding-”</p><p>David’s voice came from behind them and with dawning horror, Hermione quickly sprang to her feet with realisation and snatched the book out of his hands in a wild swipe, realising all too late that she had left the book undefended in her tackling of Skyla.</p><p>The damage had been done however.</p><p>“NOT a word!” she said sternly to her father as she buried the book under her shirt, “I mean it! Not a word!”</p><p>David looked between Skyla and Hermione for several moments as the realisation hit him.</p><p>“Oooohhhhh….”</p><p>“Not a word!” Hermione half-demanded, half-pleaded.</p><p>“OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!”</p><p>“NOT A WORD DAD!”</p><p>“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”</p><p>Skyla simply looked on in confusion, wondering what on earth was going on and why Hermione’s father was suddenly looking like like a little kid in a candy store.</p><p>“Now I know why you didn’t like football,” David commented with a grin, “or any ball spor-”</p><p>Hermione took the book out from under her shirt, however it was only for the purpose of attempting to bash her father over the head with it repeatedly while Jean laughed and Skyla tried to sneak a peek at the book title with burning curiosity, though she was unsuccessful in her attempts.</p><p>When Hermione had eventually calmed down and David had stopped snickering, they spent the rest of the morning opening their remaining presents, which for Skyla included a deflated football and air-pump from David (‘so you can keep practicing when you go back!’) a helpful book from Jean full of tips on ‘Growing Up Alone’ (‘I know it’s a bit of a downer, but it really is full of useful things that you might not learn otherwise, I read it myself when I was younger…’) and Hermione’s three gifts which turned out to be two rather thick books and an interesting looking quill.</p><p>“This first one is a book on muggle science,” Hermione explained, “I thought you might find it interesting. It goes through our entire history and all of our major achievements and inventions.”</p><p>“Wow,” Skyla commented, “I can’t wait to read it.”</p><p>“The second,” Hermione continued, “is a guide for adults who are learning to write. It’s got a lot of useful activities in there that can train your muscle memory and improve your writing skills. I know you are very self-conscious of your hand writing so I thought this would give you a directed way to practice and study.”</p><p>“That’s really thoughtful,” Skyla said fondly, “that will help a lot. Thank you.”</p><p>“And the quill,” Hermione finished with, “is self-spelling. It will figure out what word you are trying to write and write the word out for you. It’s banned in examinations and I don’t think you should use it for homework either, but you can use it on its own to double check words that you aren’t sure of, or to write out words that you have heard, but don’t know how to spell.”</p><p>“That’s amazing,” Skyla said in awe, “and very helpful. Thank you.”</p><p>The girls embraced in another hug and for some reason, both David and Jean decided to step out of the room, although Skyla wasn’t really sure why.</p><p>***************</p><p>Eventually, after a wonderful holiday (and a rather fun New Year’s Eve spent laughing at two very tipsy parents with endless amounts of ‘Hermione teasing’), the time finally came for the girls to return to their lives at Hogwarts. Of course, this meant that Skyla’s peaceful time was beginning to be slowly replaced by a growing sense of anxiety as she prepared for the rapidly approaching issue of her appearance at the Ministry (for whatever it was that Sirius was planning). Still, for the time being, she was able to say her farewells to the Grangers on platform nine and three quarters with a sense of peace and belonging that she had never felt before.</p><p>“I didn’t get to know my family,” Skyla said quietly to the Grangers on the platform, “but if I had, I would hope that we would be like yours.”</p><p>“Oh Skyla sweetie come here,” Jean said fondly as she pulled the girl into a tight hug, “you’re always welcome here okay? If you need anything at all, we’re always here to help.”</p><p>David placed a fond hand on Skyla’s shoulder with a smile and a nod, before turning to give Hermione a hug of her own.</p><p>After saying their farewells and exchanging hugs with her parents, Hermione and Skyla both stepped forward onto the train with a certain reluctance; they were excited to return to their studies and to learn more about the world of magic, but for both of them, it felt as though they were saying goodbye to their little slice of home, and heading back into the wilderness once again.</p><p>Hermione silently snaked her hand into Skyla’s as they boarded and Skyla began to happily swing it back and forth as they held hands and walked down to a compartment at the back. Hermione couldn’t help but laugh; somehow Skyla always managed to make her smile, despite the hardships they had been through already. The girls sat down in the compartment together, dumping their bags on the seat across from them while still holding hands.</p><p>“Sky?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“I love you,” Hermione said quietly, out of nowhere.</p><p>“Aw, I love you too,” Skyla said happily.</p><p>“No I mean, I think I really love you,” Hermione said.</p><p>“Okay? I love you too,” Skyla said fondly.</p><p>“I guess Mum was right,” Hermione laughed, sighing softly as she rest her head gently on Skyla’s shoulder.</p><p>Skyla’s brow furrowed with confusion as Hermione snuggled down into her shoulder and settled in for the long haul; both figuratively and literally.</p><p>***************</p>
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<a name="section0017"><h2>17. When It Rains...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“TRIAL OF THE CENTURY! </p><p>Sirius Black to stand trial over mass murder charges!</p><p>In an earth-shattering revelation made public only a few hours ago, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge announced that a special session of the Wizengamot is to convene on the morning of the fourth of January for the trial of Sirius Black, the suspected assailant behind the mass murder of thirteen innocent muggles on the 1st of November, 1980. The hideous crime against the muggle population left a dark stain upon the entire magical community and Sirius Black has been hunted ever since by aurors and the public alike.</p><p>“Black has finally decided to turn himself in,” the visibly fatigued Minister announced to the shocked public and press, “he will stand trial before a special session of the Wizengamot on Monday morning”.</p><p>When asked about why Black had suddenly decided to turn himself in, the Minister had this to say; </p><p>“Black claims to have new ‘evidence’ relating to the case. Unfortunately, due to Black’s fear of a ‘bias conviction’, he will only submit to the authorities and turn over his ‘evidence’ if there are neutral mediators present at the trial, along with members of the press.”</p><p>The Daily Prophet has since learned that the ‘mediators’ in question are none other than representatives of Gringotts bank, who have not stepped foot inside the Ministry of Magic for over fifty years and rarely have dealings with the Ministry at all outside of the commerce and finance departments. It is unclear whether Gringotts itself intends on influencing the outcome trial, or whether they have simply been hired by Black with the last of his family fortune as a form of muscle (see page three for full details on the ‘Fall of House Black’). There are growing safety concerns within the Ministry regarding the unusual move and not all seem to welcome Fudge’s decision to allow the trial to go ahead with Gringotts’ presence.</p><p>“Goblins have no place interfering in our laws nor our justice system,” Lucius Malfoy, Chairman of the Educational Board and known advocate for justice commented after the surprising announcement, “Black should get the same trial as anyone else would. If he thinks that he can buy his way out of righteous justice, he is sorely mistaken.”</p><p>Some may even go as far as to question the Minister’s motives in this matter; This is his first real test of leadership since Minister Bagnold retired and he no doubt wishes to use the opportunity to build his political resume. One can only speculate as to what Black could possibly be thinking by coming forward now, or why the goblins have decided to interject themselves into the process of justice, however with the unexpected trial merely days away major questions are being asked and as always, we at the Daily Prophet will be there to bring you all of the answers.</p><p>Rita Skeeta,<br/>
Special Corespondent to the Daily Prophet.”</p><p>***************</p><p>“Wow,” Skyla said in surprise as she finished reading the article, “I didn’t know that all this was going on.”</p><p>“You didn’t know?” Neville exclaimed, “it’s all anyone has talked about all week!”</p><p>“We’ve been in the muggle world,” Hermione explained, “my parents don’t exactly get the Daily Prophet delivered.”</p><p>“Oh… right…”</p><p>The three sat within their compartment and watched the snowy white hillsides rolling past through the window as they made their journey back to the frozen north, following their short but blissful reprieve away from the stresses of school life. Neville had joined the two girls in their compartment on the Hogwarts Express after he he had boarded and had immediately bombarded them with hurried questions about the trial, until it had became apparent they had no idea what he was talking about. </p><p>Fortunately it hadn’t been too hard to dig up the paper since many students had kept a copy in order to show their muggleborn friends, or to simply discuss the hot topic on the train. While their first trip to Hogwarts had been a relatively subdued affair and most groups kept to themselves, this time it was significantly rowdier as students moved frantically back and forth between compartments in the crowded corridor to eagerly discuss Sirius Black and his trial. After borrowing the paper from a few older Hufflepuff students, Skyla read through the article and she wasn’t particularly impressed by the tone, nor the photo that they had chosen to display on the front of the paper. As interesting as it was to see the large moving photo displayed on the front, it was clearly selected with purpose as it displayed the rather unflattering image of a younger Sirius shouting angrily at his former family in the middle of Diagon Alley. She had no idea where they had even dug up the photo, but it was clearly intended to display Sirius as a deranged madman, or at the very least someone with a very troubled past who was capable of committing horrendous crimes.</p><p>“So that’s why he wants you at the Ministry,” Hermione mused as she read through the article for a second time, “if this is the reaction to the news of his trial, he’ll definitely need you there to support him during it.”</p><p>“What difference can I make?” Skyla asked with a slight frown, “I mean, obviously I want to be there to support him but, it’s not like I can do anything about it.”</p><p>“I think you might be underestimating how much weight your word will carry,” Neville pointed out, “I mean you are the Girl-Who-Lived, the famous dragon tamer-”</p><p>“-and manticore hunter-” Hermione added.</p><p>“-killer of trolls-”</p><p>“-werewolf slayer-”</p><p>“- don’t forget how she put down the second goblin rebellions-”</p><p>Skyla rolled her eyes at the pair while Neville and Hermione both laughed; she had heard some truly ridiculous stories about her origins and some were so utterly ridiculous that she was baffled how anyone could believe them. Thankfully, most of the other students who had gotten a chance to speak with her had quickly realised that she wasn’t the larger than life character that had been presented to them in their childhood stories, even though many still seemed to hold onto at least one or two beliefs about her apparently glorious history.</p><p>Werewolf slayer was a new one though.</p><p>“I know you may not like it now, but you’re going to need all of that influence to try and swing people on this one,” Neville said, becoming serious once again, “even I grew up with the stories of Sirius Black coming out of the wardrobe if I didn’t eat my carrots.”</p><p>“Well that’s just ridiculous,” Hermione scoffed, “and Sirius will definitely need Skyla for moral support, but it is still a trial at the end of the day; it should be about facts and evidence, not influence and social standings. As long as Sirius has a good case, which I assume he does since Gringotts is supporting him, then legally he should be okay.”</p><p>“Maybe it’s like that in the muggle world, but it doesn’t really work that way here,” Neville said with a sad shake of his head, “there’s a reason that so many Death Eaters walked free after the last war.”</p><p>“Death Eaters?” Skyla asked curiously.</p><p>“Followers of You-Know-Who,” Neville explained, “after the war they all came out with a heap of dodgy excuses to escape punishment. Many got away with literal murder.”</p><p>“Ridiculous,” Hermione muttered, “the law is the law and no-one should be above it.”</p><p>“Well look on the bright side,” Neville shrugged, “Skyla can use that same flaw to her advantage.”</p><p>“I’ll need to do some research when we get back,” Hermione said thoughtfully, “I wish we had known about this sooner…”</p><p>“Sirius never told me what he actually wanted me to do,” Skyla added, “I’m sure he’s got a good plan even without me.”</p><p>“My gran says the Wizengamot is full of tired, old men,” Neville said with a shrug, “they’re the ones who will be deciding. If you can turn on the charm and maybe get a chance to tell your side of the story, well…”</p><p>“I’m not exactly the charming type,” Skyla said with worry.</p><p>“Oh, you might be surprised.”</p><p>The three spent the next hour of their trip theory crafting about the various things that Skyla might be able to do in order to help Sirius, and how the trial itself might proceed, until they were interrupted by the compartment door suddenly sliding open to reveal a familiar, but not particularly welcome, face.</p><p>“Malfoy?” all three let out in surprise as the boy stepped inside the compartment, leaving Crabbe and Goyle behind him in the corridor.</p><p>“What do you want?” Hermione asked suspiciously.</p><p>Draco ignored her and instead surprised everyone by offering a small, formal bow towards Skyla, although from the look on his face when he arose it had physically pained him to do so. </p><p>“Greetings, Lady Potter. Did you have a pleasant holiday?”</p><p>He met nothing but blank stares in response. It was the last thing that Skyla had expected to hear from the arrogant, pureblooded elitist who had been at odds with Skyla on multiple separate occasions throughout the year. Many Gryffindors still remembered Skyla blasting him across the D.A.D.A. room with fondness, though Skyla didn’t have as fond memories due to the aftermath of the exchange. They hadn’t crossed wands in any incidents since that class, however he frequently made hurtful comments about her in carrying whispers whenever she walked past. Why he was now politely asking her about her holiday, Skyla hadn’t the faintest clue.</p><p>“Uh… yeah it was pretty good…” Skyla eventually replied slowly, “… what do you want?”</p><p>“Oh, I merely wished to offer my congratulations,” Draco said airily, “you must be very excited to see the infamous criminal, Sirius Black, on the verge of being brought to justice. He was a friend of your family, was he not? Before he became a criminal, that is.”</p><p>“He’s not a criminal yet,” Skyla pointed out, “he hasn’t actually ever had a trial.”</p><p>“It is a foregone conclusion, don’t worry,” Draco said with what Skyla could only assume was meant to be a reassuring expression, “my father has been called as a key witness in the trial and he will ensure that Black is given to the dementors of Azkaban.”</p><p>“Dementors? Azkaban?”</p><p>“A magical prison,” Neville explained quietly to Skyla, “guarded by the foulest creatures on earth; dementors. Many convicts have chosen death over a sentence there.”</p><p>“A luxury that Black will not be afforded,” Draco smirked, “his torment will last for a very long time; he will suffer for the rest of his miserable life.”</p><p>Skyla stared at him incredulously; did he even realise how cold and heartless he sounded?</p><p>“You will be at the trial, of course?” Draco asked casually.</p><p>Skyla hesitated for a moment.</p><p>“Why do you ask?”</p><p>Draco had apparently gotten his answer and he smiled in a rather foreboding manner.</p><p>“Well you are of course well known and… beloved, by the magical world,” Draco said, his voice catching slightly as he spoke, “but even still, it will be a difficult situation for you and both my father and I wish to offer you our assistance in navigating the complicated affair. My father has a lot of experience dealing with the Wizengamot and it can be a frightening place if you don’t have anyone to look after you.”</p><p>“But you don’t even like me?” Skyla said with confusion, “why would you want to do that?”</p><p>“This is about far more than personal feelings,” Draco said dismissively, “this is about my-well, serving justice. Is there anything more important than that?”</p><p>“Uh, that’s definitely important. Well I’ll… think about it…” Skyla replied cautiously.</p><p>“You’re more than welcome to come discuss it in our compartment,” Draco said with an invitational wave of his hand toward the corridor, “I am sure I can give you some fantastic advice on the trial, since my father is very well informed about the proceedings. Pansy can help you prepare too and unlike some... witches,” he said as his eyes flicked towards Hermione, “she actually knows how to look like a proper lady-”</p><p>Before he could even finish, Hermione had gotten to her feet.</p><p>“I think you should leave,” she said with a scowl, “now.”</p><p>“Well it’s not you I’m talking to, is it mu… Granger?” Draco replied coolly.</p><p>“If Hermione wants you to leave, then you should leave,” Skyla said simply.</p><p>“Yeah, we’ve heard enough,” Neville said quietly.</p><p>Draco opened his mouth momentarily, perhaps to utter some angry retort, however he apparently decided better of it as he closed it again while narrowing his eyes at Skyla.</p><p>“Think carefully about your next moves, ‘Lady’ Potter,” he warned, “changes are coming to our world, and you don’t want to be caught on the wrong side of them.”</p><p>He gave Skyla one final, appraising look before turning and departing from the compartment.</p><p>“Well that was weird,” Skyla commented after Draco had left and the three had relaxed back into their seats.</p><p>“Slimy snake,” Hermione muttered with visible annoyance, “it’s painfully obvious what he was after. I bet his father put him up to it as soon as the article was published. Maybe even before.”</p><p>“There’s no way he came up with that on his own,” Neville agreed, “that was very rehearsed.”</p><p>“Very poorly rehearsed,” Hermione scoffed, “it just goes to show they don’t know you at all if they think they can win you over with such rubbish.”</p><p>“I don’t know, I mean ‘Lady Potter’ does have a rather nice ring to it…” Skyla mused thoughtfully.</p><p>“Skyla!”</p><p>“I’m just kidding,” Skyla chuckled, “he clearly wants to ally for the trial, but I don’t really get why. What’s his interest in this?”</p><p>“His father must be planning something big,” Neville mused, “something that’s about more than just Sirius’ innocence. Malfoy wouldn’t have said all of that stuff if he didn’t have a good reason to.”</p><p>“Maybe it was just an excuse to try and split us up,” Hermione said as she folded her arms grumpily, “his way of getting revenge.”</p><p>“Take a lot more than that to split you two up,” Neville chuckled, “joined at the hip these days.”</p><p>Hermione blushed slightly but replied, “and you, Neville. You’ve become a good friend to me that I don’t want to lose.”</p><p>“Aw thanks ‘Mione, but it wasn’t my hand you were holding when I came in.”</p><p>Hermione suddenly found the view outside very interesting, while Neville snickered in amusement.</p><p>“I guess we have no choice but to wait and see,” Skyla sighed, “I just hope that Sirius knows what he’s doing. Tempting to accept his offer just for Pansy’s help, though.”</p><p>“You what?” Hermione asked incredulously.</p><p>“Well, she is very pretty,” Skyla pointed out, “I wouldn’t mind looking like her for a day.”</p><p>“... hmph.”</p><p>Hermione simply folded her arms and sulked for awhile in response, until Neville couldn’t hold back any longer and burst out in laughter. He received Hermione’s blue, fluffy scarf to the face for his troubles, but his amusement still continued for the rest of the journey.</p><p>***************</p><p>The Hogwarts Express eventually reached its destination as the last of the pale winter sunlight was beginning to fade beyond the distant horizon. The short, chilly days were still providing a slow but steady downfall of snow upon the castle and it gave the ancient structure a majestic and ethereal feeling with its tall, white turrets and towers that loomed high above the snow swept grounds below and the almost frozen lake which reflected the final glimmers of fading sunlight upon the surface, like icy diamonds that danced and winked playfully as they passed by. Thankfully, unlike their first journey to the castle, they did not have to cross the lake on a small, rickety boat and were instead now allowed to take the horseless carriages along the long, winding track that led from the platform to the castle gates. The carriages seated six students at a time and appeared to roll up and down the twisting path by magic alone; they fortunately featured very large wooden wheels with thick spokes that churned relentlessly against the thick snow, somehow managing to keep their traction despite the uneven footing.</p><p>As the trio approached the small crowd of students who were waiting for carriages to arrive outside the platform, they became acutely aware of the fact that they would be required to group up with another three students in order to make a full carriage. Skyla could already see Draco hovering near the carriages and looking at her eagerly with Crabbe and Goyle by his side, and she knew that the boy was attempting to position himself for what would likely be another attempt to bring her over to his ‘side’ for the duration of the journey. Wanting absolutely no part in the debacle that sharing a carriage with Hermione, Neville and the Slytherin boys would bring forth, Skyla instead quickly scanned the other students in the crowd with the hope of finding some that she could drag into their group. She was relieved to find a convenient group of three that were waiting on their own and she made her way towards them, dragging Neville and a suddenly very unhappy Hermione along with her.</p><p>“Hi Cho!” Skyla said as they approached the group of three Ravevnclaw girls, “do you mind if we join your group?”</p><p>“Oh, hi Skyla,” Cho replied warmly, “sure, that will be great. I was actually hoping I would get a chance to talk to you, so that works out well.”</p><p>Hermione rolled her eyes as the group collectively turned and shuffled forward, although Skyla simply pretended not to notice. She still didn’t really understand what Hermione’s problem was with the pretty and friendly older girl and despite Hermione complaining about her at great length over the break, she still felt no closer to comprehending why she annoyed Hermione so much.</p><p>The newly formed group eventually advanced past a rather disappointed-looking Draco and began to climb into one of the arriving carriages, with Skyla sitting neatly in the middle between Cho and Hermione while opposite them sat Neville and the two Ravenclaw girls that Skyla did not know.</p><p>“This is Marietta,” Cho said once they were all seated and the carriage had started to move. She indicated towards the first Ravenclaw girl who had short, reddish-blonde hair that was quite curly and a rather surly expression on her face. Marietta said nothing in response and simply gave a curt nod, but it didn’t seem to bother Cho at all.</p><p>“She grows on you,” Cho laughed, “believe it or not.”</p><p>“Like a fungus,” the second girl added playfully.</p><p>Marietta stuck her tongue out in response, while the other two Ravenclaw girls laughed.</p><p>“And this is Maya,” Cho continued, indicating to the second girl who had long brown hair that was split into two tight braids, and a much more inviting expression on her face than Marietta had.</p><p>“Hello,” Maya said happily, “nice to meet you all. Well I mean, we know all about you Skyla, of course.”</p><p>“Of course,” Skyla sighed.</p><p>“Not because of your legendary status or anything like that, mind you,” Maya said airily, “only because Cho hasn’t shut up about you for weeks.”</p><p>“Excuse you, I mentioned her once or twice,” Cho huffed slightly, “and that was because we almost DIED together.”</p><p>“Oh, such a drama queen,” Maya laughed, “it was just a game of quidditch, you would have been fine.”</p><p>Cho scoffed and rolled her eyes, before turning back to Skyla while Hermione and Neville made their own brief introductions to the others.</p><p>“How was your holiday, Skyla?” she asked.</p><p>“It was good, I spent it with Hermione and her parents in muggle London,” Skyla replied.</p><p>“Oh that’s very sweet,” Cho said with a smile and glancing at Hermione, who pointed looked over the side of the carriage and out into the treeline absently.</p><p>“How was yours?” Skyla asked.</p><p>“It was nice to see my parents again,” Cho said happily, “they are still adjusting to the fact that I spend so much time away from home now.”</p><p>“But you’re in your second year,” Skyla pointed out, “surely they are used to it?”</p><p>“You would think so,” Cho laughed, “but I was always very close to my parents. Even for me it’s hard to be away from home for such long periods, but that’s just how it is.”</p><p>“At least you have quidditch to distract yourself with,” Skyla offered, “who is it that you play next?”</p><p>“Slytherin,” Cho shuddered, “I’m dreading it.”</p><p>“Have you played them before?”</p><p>“No. This is my first year on the team, but I watched them play last year,” Cho explained, “the Ravenclaw team was quite good but even still, they got battered by Slytherin in the finals who won the whole thing. Now the team is downgrading by having me replace our old seeker, but there wasn’t anyone else even half-decent trialing for the position. I’m the best we have, and that’s really not saying much at all.”</p><p>“What? No, you’re an amazing flyer,” Skyla insisted, “seriously. And you are so smart with the game too; your body blocks were really annoying to deal with. I had no idea you could even play like that.”</p><p>Cho laughed, “sorry about that, but I had to do something, you were surprisingly fast on that old broom. I dread to think what you’ll be like on your new one; you’ll win the next time we play, I’m sure.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t go that far, I haven’t even ridden it yet,” Skyla admitted, “I’ve been a bit… preoccupied lately. I’ll probably get a lot of practice on it though before the Hufflepuff match, since Wood will probably have us training as soon as he can.”</p><p>“Hm… well, I know that they’ve kept most of the same core from last year,” Cho said thoughtfully, “although they do have a new chaser so that could really change how they play…”</p><p>Skyla and Cho both happily chatted about their upcoming matches for most of the duration of the carriage ride to the castle, although Skyla did notice out of the corner of her eye that Hermione still seemed to be sulking and staring off into the distance while ignoring everyone else. Even when Skyla had tried to involve Hermione in the conversation she hadn’t seemed terribly interested and eventually she gave up on trying. In stark contrast, Neville seemed to be quite happily engaged in an animated conversation with Maya for the journey while Marietta mirrored Hermione’s stance and stared absently out of the carriage with a moody expression, although unlike Hermione she seemed perfectly happy to be doing so.</p><p>Hermione did eventually perk back up once they had reached the front gates and they had disembarked. In fact, she suddenly seemed quite happy to be saying their farewells to Cho and her friends as they split off in two directions.</p><p>“It was good to see you again Sky,” Cho said while pulling her into a tight hug, “don’t be a stranger! Come visit me sometime.”</p><p>“I will,” Skyla said while returning the hug which was very soft and warm, and she couldn’t help but admire Cho’s pleasantly smelling strawberry perfume which seemed to be a permanent fixture on the girl, even after having spent hours on the train.</p><p>After a few seconds, they broke apart and Skyla looked over to the other Ravenclaw girls, adding a brief, “it was nice to meet you both!”</p><p>Maya and Marietta both simply waved in response and departed with Cho in the direction of the tall Ravenclaw tower on the western side of the castle.</p><p>“Sky…?” Hermione let out indignantly once Cho and her friends had departed, “but- that’s my thing!”</p><p>“You don’t own the nickname,” Neville pointed out.</p><p>“Gargh, she’s such a-” Hermione began, until a voice interrupted her.</p><p>“Skyla Potter?”</p><p>The trio collectively looked up to see a rather tall, adult wizard approaching them from the direction of the castle, drawing the eyes of many other students in the area who stopped to look at the unexpected appearance. Skyla’s confusion only further increased when she spotted Professor McGonagall hurrying along behind the man with an irritated expression, something that never boded well for anyone.</p><p>“That’s a Ministry official,” Neville said in a quiet whisper, indicating towards a silver badge on the man’s robes that had a large ‘M’ on the front.</p><p>“What’s he doing here?” Hermione whispered back.</p><p>“Skyla Potter,” the man began in a formal, rehearsed tone once he had reached the group, “you have been called to attend the trial of the suspected mass murderer Sirius Black as a key witness. Special considerations have been made with the school to allow your attendance and you are to present yourself to the Wizengamot in the Ministry of Magic, London, at nine o’clock on the morning of the fourth of January-”</p><p>“Lady Potter!”</p><p>The crowd of students who had gathered in curiosity audible gasped as another voice called out, yet it was clearly not human and two goblins appeared from behind the Ministry man, wearing official golden Gringotts uniforms and panting slightly as though they had just run a marathon.</p><p>“Gringotts, has summoned you, to attend, the trial of Lord Black, as part of the Gringotts delegation-” the first goblin began through heavy breathing, however the wizard almost immediately cut him off.</p><p>“Gringotts has no authority to summon the girl anywhere,” he said flatly, “you forget your place, goblin. This a Ministry matter.”</p><p>“Lady Potter is to appear at the trial as part of the Gringotts delegation,” the goblin snapped in response, “and not in the custody of the Ministry. Lord Black has-”</p><p>“For the last time, he is no lord,” the Ministry man said angrily as he turned to face the two goblins, who did not back down in the slightest, “he is a blatant murderer and by wizarding law he forgoes the rights to his property and wealth, meaning he cannot be a lord of nothing. Upon his conviction, his property and his gold will transfer to the Ministry-”</p><p>“You mean the Black family vaults that reside within Gringotts?” the second goblin sneered, “I’d love to see you try and steal them, human. Your skull will decorate the Iron Mountain along with the other humans who have tried.”</p><p>“We are not here about matters of theft,” the first goblin reminded the second, “we are here to ensure that Lady Potter receives her request from Lord Black to join Gringotts at the trial as an honorary representative of the bank. The request was approved by the Goblin King himself-”</p><p>“There is no such thing as a goblin king!” the Ministry man fumed, “the mere notion that you goblins even understand any form of higher authority is laughable. The only authority you should respect is that of wizarding law, or need I remind you of the last goblin rebellions? Consider yourself lucky that I don’t take your claim of a having a ‘goblin king’ as treason.”</p><p>“Consider yourself lucky human that I am here on more important matters than disemboweling you,” the second goblin growled.</p><p>“ENOUGH!” McGonagall said loudly with exasperation, “this is a school for children, not the Iron Mountain nor the Ministry! You have both said your piece to the girl now leave her be, before I activate the castle’s defenses and have you both thrown out!”</p><p>Skyla simply stared dumbfounded at the scene in front of her, until the wizard once again looked in her direction.</p><p>“If you are not in a witness stand during that trial, Potter,” the wizard said with finality as he turned to leave, “it will be considered a criminal offense and you will be arrested on sight.”</p><p>“If you try and touch any member of the Gringotts delegation,” the first goblin warned, “those ‘rebellions’ will start to look like mild disagreements.”</p><p>The goblins stared down the wizard as he turned and left, before they turned back to Skyla once more.</p><p>“Lord Black would like you to have this.”</p><p>The first goblin presented Skyla with a brown-paper wrapped package.</p><p>“He believes it will aid you during the trial, and the great Goblin King agrees.”</p><p>“What on earth is going on?” Skyla asked the goblins in shock at what she had just seen, “I didn’t even know you have a king.”</p><p>“We goblins have been scattered and divided for far too long,” the second goblin said grimly, “our empire used to span across countries deep underneath the ground, yet now we are broken and fight among ourselves for the scraps that remain.”</p><p>“The Goblin King used to make countries bow in fear,” the first goblin commented, “yet now wizarding folk do not even know that we still have a king, and some of us still rally yet to his cause.”</p><p>“I see… well whatever Sirius’ needs,” Skyla said slowly, “I’m with him, no matter what. If that means I’m with Gringotts, then…”</p><p>The two goblins gave her matching grins that bared their fangs.</p><p>“Bleeding Eyes personally vouched for you,” the first goblin said quietly, “just remember that there are many fates residing on the outcome of this trial.”</p><p>“You hold not only Lord Black’s life in your hands,” the second goblin added, “but many goblin lives as-well.”</p><p>“No pressure then,” Skyla laughed nervously.</p><p>“From great trials come great triumphs.”</p><p>The two gave low bows, before finally being shooed away by an irate looking McGonagall under the watchful eyes of a crowd of students that had almost tripled in size. </p><p>Word travelled quickly in Hogwarts.</p><p>“Well this is not how I saw my day going,” Skyla said quietly.</p><p>“I guess it’s no longer a matter of moral support,” Hermione said, indicating towards the package in Skyla’s hands, “it looks like there’s no backing out now.”</p><p>“Can you help me get there, professor?” Skyla asked, “I don’t have a choice anymore.”</p><p>“Oh, I’ve already arranged for a staff member to take you,” McGonagall said through pursed lips, “Remus will escort you for the day. Between Goblins and Ministry officials trying to pull you around, I thought you needed someone with you that you can trust.”</p><p>“Thank you, professor,” Skyla sighed in relief; having Remus around would definitely be helpful, especially since he knew Sirius personally and would be open to hearing his side of the story.</p><p>“There’s something not right about all of this,” McGonagall said quietly to the three, “keep your wits about you, Potter. Neither the Ministry, nor the goblins, are to be trusted.”</p><p>She gave one final worried look to Skyla before turning to the crowd of students and beginning to disperse them with a few stern words. Some continued to stare at Skyla as they walked past her, while others were already hurriedly discussing what they had seen with their friends. Skyla knew that she was going to be the ‘topic of the day’ at Hogwarts for quite some time to come.</p><p>“Come on, let’s go see what that is,” Hermione said, indicating towards the package, “somewhere private.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m curious too,” Neville agreed.</p><p>“Alright.”</p><p>The three managed to slip away from the dispersing crowd and found an unused classroom on the first floor, shutting the door firmly behind them as they entered inside.</p><p>“Go on, open it,” Neville said eagerly, curiosity getting the better of him.</p><p>Skyla tore away the brown paper covering the package and placed the contents down onto one of the desks with confusion.</p><p>“What… what on earth is this?” Skyla asked, tilting her head.</p><p>“Wait, is that-” Hermione began, but she quickly put a hand over her mouth in surprise, “-is that what I think it is?”</p><p>“It is. Okay, maybe Sirius does know what he’s doing,” Neville said with a slight grin.</p><p>“Oh, I wish I could see that Ministry man’s face when you show them this,” Hermione said with a laugh, “or Draco’s father, for that matter.”</p><p>“But, is it really going to make that much of a difference?” Skyla asked with confusion.</p><p>“Oh yes, definitely,” Neville nodded eagerly.</p><p>“I hate to admit it, but you might be able to swing it with this alone,” Hermione agreed.</p><p>The three stared thoughtfully at the contents for awhile, before evevntually packing it up once again and heading upstairs, placing it safely within Skyla’s charmed backpack hidden under her bed before refreshing themselves and heading down to dinner.</p><p>As soon as Skyla entered the Great Hall, she knew that Hogwarts had changed for her.</p><p>It wasn’t that she was unfamiliar with the feeling of being stared at by this point; her first day had been memorable to her as every single pair of eyes present at the sorting had been locked firmly on her and hadn’t left for the rest of the evening. And yet, somehow, the staring eyes of the collective students felt different now than it had then. Some seemed simply curious or excited about the drama, but others were looking at her with suspicion and caution. She felt extremely self-conscious as she walked over to the Gryffindor table and even her own housemates were giving her strange looks.</p><p>Well, with a few exceptions.</p><p>“That was wicked!” Fred said eagerly from a few seats down, once Skyla had arrived.</p><p>“Seriously cool,” George agreed, “you didn’t tell us you had goblin friends.”</p><p>“Or that you knew a mass murderer,” Fred added, “go way back with Sirius Black, do you?”</p><p>The nearby Gryffindors around her watched on closely, while the other tables began to slowly resume their usual bustling conversations among themselves.</p><p>“He’s not a mass murderer yet,” Skyla said carefully, “he hasn’t been proven guilty or anything. And the goblins were from Gringotts, they were just giving me a… delivery.”</p><p>“Hand delivered package from two Gringotts goblins?” George mused, “now there’s some express mail…”</p><p>“Owls are old fashioned anyway,” Fred agreed, “hey do you think if we ask at the bank they’ll send a goblin delivery to mum? Can you imagine her face…”</p><p>“That man said you were a witness,” Seamus added from the opposite side, “do you know something about Black?”</p><p>The nearby Gryffindors all stared at her, waiting intently for any kind of information or gossip to come through.</p><p>“I don’t know anything,” Skyla said quietly, “it’s probably just because he knew my parents a long time ago, nothing more.”</p><p>The Gryffindors looked slightly disappointed at the anti-climatic reveal, however Hermione reached down under the table and gave Skyla’s hand a comforting squeeze.</p><p>“Are you alright?” She asked Skyla quietly, “you look a little pale.”</p><p>“I’m- not really hungry anymore,” Skyla admitted, “I think I’m just going to go to bed.”</p><p>She pushed away her unused plate and stood up, surprising everyone.</p><p>“A-alright,” Hermione said hesitantly, “do you want me to come with you?”</p><p>Skyla shook her head with a small smile.</p><p>“It’s alright, I’ll be fine. Some time alone will do me good.”</p><p>“If you’re sure…”</p><p>Skyla departed under the watchful eyes of the entire Great Hall, feeling quite relieved to have some peace and quiet once she stepped out into the corridor and headed for the stairs. Her head was swimming with questions and thoughts; Sirius had clearly been busy over the last few weeks but she felt a little annoyed that he hadn’t involved her more. Sure he had said for her to go to the Ministry, but he hadn’t shared with her that his plans involved pulling the entirety of Gringotts into a legal (and potentially physical) battle over not just his innocence, but his vaults and the fate of many goblins as-well. If there was one thing Skyla knew about goblins it was that they didn’t mince their words; if they said lives hung in the balance, they meant it.</p><p>She sighed as she climbed the stairs, wondering exactly what she was going to do. It felt as though everyone expected her to go to this trial and suddenly decide for all that Sirius was innocent, and that was that. She already knew that there would be opposition and who knew what kind of tricks Draco’s father might try and employ to keep Sirius from walking free. She had to admit that she still had a niggling concern in the back of her mind that Sirius may not have been entirely innocent; she believed him but until the trial was over, she couldn’t help but feel worried that she may learn more about her godfather’s past than she would have liked. She had no intention of abandoning the man, even if it turned out that he was guilty, but… she hoped that he had been fully truthful with her up until now, as she was far too committed (emotionally and physically) to back out now.</p><p>She eventually found the soft, warm mattress of her bed in her dorm and without even undressing, she simply flopped down on the bed and almost immediately fell asleep.</p><p>***************</p><p>“Morning Neville,” Hermione said cheerfully as he dragged himself down to the common room the following morning to find her already waiting for him.</p><p>“Mm,” he replied without anywhere near as much energy, “you’re in a good mood.”</p><p>“I managed to get a lot done last night,” Hermione said eagerly, having spent most of her evening after dinner researching for the trial while Neville headed off for the common room, “have you seen Skyla yet? She’s not in our dorm.”</p><p>“Nope. Figured she would be with you.”</p><p>“She must have gotten up very early this morning then,” Hermione mused, “maybe she’s already at breakfast?”</p><p>“Skyla eager for breakfast? That’ll be the day,” Neville scoffed.</p><p>“Fair… maybe she already left for the Ministry…?”</p><p>Hermione felt rather disheartened at the thought that Skyla might have already left without saying goodbye, especially after she had spent most of her night researching for the trial and had been forced to quickly run back right as curfew was beginning. Skyla had been fast asleep with her curtains fully drawn when Hermione had returned, so she had been eagerly anticipating sharing her newfound knowledge with Skyla in the morning. With little else to do for now however, Hermione and Neville were forced to go down to the Great Hall in the hope that their friend was already there.</p><p>Unfortunately, when they entered the Great Hall alongside a few other sleepy Gryffindors, they found no sign of Skyla; their usual spot at the Gryffindor table remained empty and the sight caused Hermione to feel a sense of unease.</p><p>“She must have left already then,” Neville said, “they probably had to leave early.”</p><p>“I guess…”</p><p>The two looked at each other with matching expressions of concern; it seemed strange that Skyla would have left without saying anything at all, especially when Hermione had been up since six and hadn’t seen any sign of her.</p><p>“Ah, Hermione, Neville.”</p><p>Thy recognised the familiar voice of Remus and turned around to see their D.A.D.A. teacher was standing in the entrance to the Great Hall behind them.</p><p>“Have you seen Skyla?” he asked, “I’m having trouble finding her.”</p><p>Hermione and Neville exchanged a worried look.</p><p>“We haven’t seen her either,” Hermione said, “we thought that she had already left with you.”</p><p>“Hm. Maybe she is in one of the bathrooms. Will you do me a favour and check for me, Hermione?”</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p>After ten minutes of searching the bathrooms and corridors, Hermione became rather concerned for her best friend’s whereabouts.</p><p>After twenty minutes of searching the grounds, the quidditch pitch and even the hospital wing, Hermione had reached a state of full blown panic.</p><p>“Something has definitely happened to her!” Hermione exclaimed with worry, “she’s not here!”</p><p>“Did she say anything the last time you saw her?” Remus asked, “anything unusual or-”</p><p>“No… but… plenty of weirdness happened last night,” Neville said, “between the Ministry official and the goblins… not to mention the incident with Malfoy on the train…”</p><p>“Did something happen?” Remus asked suspiciously, “did they duel?”</p><p>“Quite the opposite,” Neville said with a shake of his head, “he was trying to butter her up to get her to support his father. He even called her ‘Lady Potter’.”</p><p>“Really?” Remus asked curiously.</p><p>“You don’t think he’s done something, do you?” Hermione asked nervously.</p><p>“When was the last time you actually saw her?” Remus prompted.</p><p>“When I got back to the dorm,” Hermione replied, thinking deeply.</p><p>“And you definitely saw her in her bed?” Remus asked.</p><p>“Well… no, her curtains were drawn…” Hermione realised slowly, “the last time I actually saw her was when she was leaving the Great Hall. What if… oh no.”</p><p>Hermione realised their mistake and she turned to Neville with horror.</p><p>“I didn’t see Malfoy anywhere at dinner,” she whispered with her fingers over he mouth, “he wasn’t there. He must have been outside somewhere, waiting for her. I never should have let her go alone.”</p><p>Remus suddenly turned back towards the castle and flicked his wand, startling both Neville and Hermione as a shimmering silver substance erupted from his wand and darted through the outside wall in the direction of McGonagall’s office.</p><p>“You two are coming with me,” Remus said firmly, “let’s go pay Mr Malfoy a little visit.”</p><p>***************</p><p>Skyla slowly opened her eyes to see that she was currently standing within a large clearing of what could only be the Forbidden Forest. She didn’t recognise the specific location, but she knew without a doubt where she was; she would recognise those trees anywhere as they had haunted her dreams for several weeks and the way that the shadows unnaturally loomed around her was something only the enchanted, dangerous and ‘forbidden’ forest could achieve.</p><p>She looked around and tried to work out exactly how she had gotten here, but she couldn’t recall anything after lying down on her bed. She had no idea what the time was since the canopy overhead was so thick that it obscured the sky completely and the unnatural darkness surrounded her like a fog, making it impossible to see anything that was further than a few meters away. The only source of light was coming from the center of the clearing where, bizarrely, a very large granite cauldron was bubbling over a makeshift fire. She had no idea what it was doing there, but she quickly realised that she was not alone in the forest.</p><p>Focusing her eyes as best as she could, Skyla realised that there was a cloaked figure working on the potion, stirring it in a clockwise direction with a large silver stirring rod. She guessed from his size and shape that it was a man, however his face was covered by a large, black hood and she could see nothing of his features, only that he stood with a slight hunch and was working away at the thick, black, tar-like potion with complete and utter concentration.</p><p>Seeing that the man was preoccupied, Skyla instead tried to focus on her undoing her bindings, which had become apparent the moment she had tried to move her arms. She was bound rather tightly to a tree, which was not the most pleasant feeling she had ever experienced, though the discomfort of having the bark rub against her back and legs were the least of her concerns at this point in time. Try as she might however, no amount of struggling seemed to cause any friction on the bindings and she eventually realised that they must have been cast by magic, and that the ropes were not simply going to come undone any time soon.</p><p>She hesitated for a moment, before deciding to try her luck in another direction.</p><p>“Who are you?” She called out to the mysterious man.</p><p>She received nothing but silence in response and was forced to frustratingly stand and wait for something else to happen, even as she continued trying to struggle against her bindings. </p><p>The man did eventually speak, however Skyla quickly realised that it wasn’t directed at her.</p><p>“It is done,” he said in a shaky voice.</p><p>Almost immediately, a cold sensation swept through the area like an icy breeze that chilled her to her core and the unnatural darkness began to encroach in a far too familiar way. She looked around wildly and spotted, with a growing sense of horror, the unmistakable shadow that had haunted her ever since that fateful day of a man forming out of the treeline as if he were made of nothing but black smoke and malice.</p><p>“... do it… do it now…”</p><p>Skyla’s heart began to pound erratically in her chest as the shadow let out a few warbled words in a strange and unsettling tone that did not belong in this world. There was nothing natural about the creature in any way and whatever it is was, she knew only that it wanted to bring death and destruction to everything around it; now that she was looking at the shadow once again she realised that it was the cause of the unnatural darkness that was embracing them and creating the oppressive aura in the air.</p><p>She let out a gasp of shock as the shadow suddenly flew forward through the air and high above the cauldron where it hovered for a moment, before turning and diving straight down into the depths, splashing wildly into the thick, black tar that filled the cauldron. She wondered for a moment if it might drown before their eyes, but she knew that a creature such as this shadow would not meet its end so easily.</p><p>“Bone of the father, unknowingly given,” the hooded man said loudly as he raised his wand, “you will renew your son.”</p><p>Skyla had never heard any incantation said exclusively in English before, but it certainly seemed to be some kind of spell as the hooded man used his wand to lift a solid white bone (that looked disturbingly human-like) and dropped it into the potion. The potion hissed angrily and turned a deep, unnatural blue; it looked rather poisonous and Skyla hoped that it was. Maybe it would kill the shadow, and may that had been this mysterious man’s plan all along?</p><p>“Flesh of the servant… willingly sacrificed,” the man said with a shaky breath as he carefully placed his wand on the ground and extended his right hand over the cauldron, while taking a silver dagger out from his robes with his left.</p><p>“You will revive your master.”</p><p>Skyla had no warning and let out a mixed cry of disgust and horror as the man braced himself for a moment before slicing through his wrist in one complete motion. The hand flopped down directly into the potion and Skyla recoiled as the potion roared into a fiery red that shot several sparks in all directions. Either that dagger was much sharper than she thought, or more likely, the blade was cursed as a normal dagger shouldn’t have been able to cut straight through human bone in one small, smooth movement like that. Either way, the man was very dedicated (or certifiably insane) to sacrifice his hand for a potion.</p><p>She could only hope that he was doing all of this in order to remove the shadow, yet something in her heart told her that the worst was yet to come.</p><p>The man had let out a guttural cry of pain at the loss of his hand at first, however Skyla was astounded to see the man keep enough composure to pull a makeshift bandage around his bleeding stump as tightly as he could. It must have been incredibly painful and yet somehow, he managed to keep working on his highly unusual potion.</p><p>Unfortunately, that meant turning directly to Skyla and for the first time she got a glimpse of his face; he was a chubby man and Skyla could focus on very little other than the rather prominent wart on his face.</p><p>“Eurgh,” Skyla couldn’t help but exclaim; the man was staggeringly ugly to look at and she regretted seeing his face at all.</p><p>He narrowed his eyes at her for a moment in annoyance, but he wasn’t deterred from continuing with his strange ritual.</p><p>“Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe.’</p><p>It was only once the man had ripped away Skyla’s left sleeve and placed the silver dagger to her arm that she had even realised what he planned to do to her.</p><p>“Wait-!”</p><p>He did not.</p><p>She let out a scream of pain as the man slowly and painfully dragged the sharp, pointed tip of the dagger down through her inner forearm. It was a very deep cut and it would certainly scar, but she realised that it was not likely to be immediately fatal, unless of course she didn’t get it treated in time. It was of little comfort to her however as she stared down at her own deep red blood seeping from the wound.</p><p>The hooded man stumbled away from her after finishing the cut and took the silver knife to the cauldron, tapping it three times over the contents. Three singular drops of her blood fell from the knife and into the potion, which caused it to turn from its fiery red into a blinding white that radiated pure light from the inside. Skyla and the hooded man were both forced to look away to protect their eyes and it was a full minute before she was able to look back and peek through her eyelids to see what was even happening.</p><p>When she did managed to open her eyes, she could see that fire below the giant cauldron had been fully extinguished and there was no longer any liquid visible in the middle of the cauldron. The strange, ethereal darkness had gone from the forest and now she could see around with a limited amount of light; the canopy still blocked most of the natural light from above however there was enough seeping through that she could make out what was happening in front of her.</p><p>When she realised what had happened, she almost wished she could go back to the darkness.</p><p>Inside the now empty cauldron stood a tall, imposing man who was draped in black fibers that were still in the process of twisting in the air around him and forming the robes that were covering his body. The man was completely bald and he had a very thin, pale complexion with visible purple veins covering his head and arms, which made Skyla a little nauseous to look at. Even more disturbing was the unnatural serpent-like nose that he had, which looked as though it had been cut off entirely and only the two nostrils on his face were left in place.</p><p>It was his eyes however that were the most terrifying sight; two narrow slits that were vertical like a snake’s and beamed bright red, screaming to every fiber of Skyla’s being that this man was dangerous. He almost seemed familiar to her, even though she didn’t recognise him at all.</p><p>“At last…” he hissed as he ran his hands over his head and face, embracing the moment, “I have returned. Lord Voldemort has returned.”</p><p>“No…”</p><p>Skyla let out an involuntary mutter of denial as she shook her head in disbelief, but apparently it had been loud enough for him to hear her as he suddenly turned and looked at her.</p><p>She thought that he might just kill her on the spot, yet he did something instead that sent icy chills straight through to her heart in a way that no deadly curse could.</p><p>He turned towards her and with a bright red gleam in his eyes, he smiled.</p><p>***************</p><p>“I told you, I don’t know anything!” Draco whined pitifully as Remus interrogated him further.</p><p>“If a single hair on her head has been harmed, no amount of your father’s influence will save you boy,” he growled darkly, in a way that neither Hermione or Neville thought possible from a human.</p><p>“I haven’t seen her since last night!” he almost wailed in fear of Remus as he bared his teeth, though Hermione and Neville were stood behind him and did not see the intimidating action.</p><p>“Where were you during the feast?” Remus demanded.</p><p>“I-I was-I was with Pansy…” Draco admitted, “she-well we were passing a broom cupboard and-”</p><p>Remus growled once again, startling Draco into silence, before turning and taking a few steps away, indicating for Hermione and Neville to join him.</p><p>“I think he’s telling the truth,” Remus sighed quietly, “I don’t think he does know where she is.”</p><p>Hermione and Neville looked at each with worry, ignoring Draco entirely as he quickly edged for the door of the unused classroom they had dragged him into, bolting out into the corridor. Hermione absently fiddled with her necklace that she wore under her robes and Neville paced alongside Remus, ignoring Draco as he ran off.</p><p>They all had only one question on their mind; if it hadn’t been Draco, then where the hell was Skyla?</p><p>***************</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Legends Never Die</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skyla stared with disbelief into the dangerous, deep crimson eyes of the extraordinarily intimidating man who had risen from within the great cauldron in the forest clearing. Despite standing alone inside a gigantic granite cauldron wearing nothing but a plain black robe, he still managed to exude an aura of terrifying malice and pure, unadulterated malevolence. He barely looked human and his features more closely resembled that of a serpent than a man, but his imposing height and broad shoulders still towered over Skyla and left her feeling very small and vulnerable in front of him. He stared at her for only a moment further before he pulled his eyes away and began to speak to the much smaller man that knelt on the ground beside him.</p><p>“Wormtail,” he said without any hint of empathy or emotion to the hooded man who was still visibly in a tremendous amount of pain, “my wand.”</p><p>Placing a wand into this man’s hand seemed like a fantastically terrible idea for any one of a thousand reasons that Skyla could list, however ‘Wormtail’ didn’t hesitate at all and he withdrew a long, jet black wand from inside his robes using his remaining hand. It was clear from the act that Wormtail was no friend to her and that she was completely alone in her opposition to the existence of this man who simply felt unnatural and evil. </p><p>For some reason, she couldn’t help but think that the name ‘Wormtail’ seemed awfully familiar and she furrowed her brow as she tried to remember where she had heard it before.</p><p>“You have done well,” the tall man said in a quiet voice as he inspected his wand, “you surprise me; perhaps you are truly as loyal as you claim.”</p><p>“I live to serve, my Lord,” Wormtail said with a grimace of pain.</p><p>“That remains to be seen,” the tall man replied calmly, “hold out your arm.”</p><p>“Thank you, my L-”</p><p>“The other arm, Wormtail.”</p><p>Wormtail’s relief faltered and he reluctantly held out his still functional arm, knowing what was coming. The tall man tore open Wormtail’s left sleeve to reveal a strange, pulsating black tattoo of a human skull that held a serpent’s tongue within its mouth. It was an unsettling tattoo to begin with, until Skyla realised that the tattoo was actively moving of its own accord and was crawling around underneath Wormtail’s skin. She shuddered in discomfort, however not as much as Wormtail who let out a sharp gasp of pain as Voldemort pressed his wand down into the tattoo. Both of their discomforts were short lived as moments later they were distracted by the arrival of several clouds of thick, black smoke that came bursting through the canopy above. The clearing in the forest was suddenly full of black clouds of smoke that landed in a circle around the tall man, who gracefully stepped out of the large cauldron with a curious expression lining his features. Skyla’s eyes widened as around them, people began to step forward through the smoke that were all wearing thick, black robes with large, heavy hoods and shining silver masks that hid their faces. Only their eyes were visible through the masks and most were stretched wide open with surprise at the scene before them.</p><p>“My friends,” the tall man called out almost jovially, “ten years it has been, and yet you answer my call as if it were yesterday!”</p><p>“Could it be?” one masked man asked in shock.</p><p>“Is it truly you?” another man asked hesitantly.</p><p>“It is truly I, your master,” came the reply from the tall man with a theatrical sweeping of his arms, “the ‘Greatest Dark Lord of All Time’, Lord Voldemort, has returned to fight again.”</p><p>Skyla gaped as his words registered. Lord Voldemort? The murderer of her family? Wasn’t he long dead, laid low by her own hand as a child? </p><p>She didn’t want to believe that it was true and part of her wanted to close her eyes and believe that this was simply some kind of impostor, or a creature pretending to be someone else. Yet, as she took in his overwhelmingly intimidating presence and the dark, menacing aura that surrounded him, she knew without a doubt that he had to be the ‘Greatest Dark Lord of All Time’. The man simply exuded fear and awe with his mere presence and if he wasn’t the infamous Dark Lord, then she would hate to meet the man who was. The others seemed to have a similar thought process as they began to fall down onto one knee in subservient positions and one by one they accepted the truth.</p><p>Voldemort’s apparent cheeriness at the arrival of his ‘friends’ suddenly disappeared without warning and the atmosphere in the clearing immediately became electrified from the tension as he spoke.</p><p>“One, two, three…” </p><p>The Dark Lord slowly and deliberately counted the number of his hooded followers as he walked around the circle, </p><p>“… four, five, six… seven. Only seven. I confess myself… disappointed.”</p><p>He stared menacingly at the gathered group and they all subverted their gaze in fear, looking to each other with wary looks. Skyla could tell from the actions of his followers that Voldemort was clearly known to be volatile and dangerous even to his ‘friends’, although she wasn’t surprised; it seemed like the behaviour to be expected from anyone who proclaimed themselves to be a ‘Dark Lord’ of anything. </p><p>“Of course, some of our number still remain loyal to the cause,” Voldemort mused, “I have heard whispers of their work continuing without me. I shall allow them to stand before me and explain themselves. Several are waiting to be released from their chains in Azkaban; they will be rewarded above all others for their unending loyalty. Only they know the pain I have felt for these ten years. And those who walk free among us…”</p><p>His eyes began to roam the gathered group.</p><p>“... have some explaining to do.”</p><p>He suddenly spun and turned his wand toward one of the hooded figures, blasting his hood and mask clean off his face with the sheer power of his magic.</p><p>“Macnair,” he sneered.</p><p>“My Lord,” the older man with a heavily scarred face and shaggy, greasy black hair said in a low, reverent voice as he avoided Voldemort’s gaze.</p><p>“Destroying dangerous beasts for the Ministry now, I hear?” Voldemort commented with narrowed eyes, “an amusing pastime I’m sure, yet I would have excepted one of my most faithful to come and find me. I can provide far more interesting creatures to destroy, you know this.”</p><p>“If only I had known you were alive, my Lord, I would have come without hesitation…”</p><p>“Hm…” </p><p>Was the only reply Voldemort gave as he appraised the man, before he moved onto the next and used his wand to effortlessly blast aside the mask and hood.</p><p>“Avery,” he hissed, “firstborn of one of my most loyal who will forever be embalmed in history. Your father died fighting to the end for the cause; why did you not do the same? How do you live with the shame you have brought to your father’s name?”</p><p>“My Lord,” Avery, a younger man who had long, dark hair tied back behind his head and a neat little goatee, replied as he bowed his head respectfully, “I knew that I could serve you better by embedding myself into the Ministry as a spy.”</p><p>“Your lies are as weak and as pitiful as you are,” Voldemort sneered, “you jumped at the opportunity to have a ‘career’ like a simpering blood traitor while I suffered in purgatory. Consider yourself lucky that I still have a use for you, and do not disappoint me again.”</p><p>Avery gulped in fear, however Voldemort merely narrowed his eyes at him for a moment before he turned his wand towards to the next hooded figure. His followers had quickly caught on however and they were all in the process of removing their hoods and masks of their volition, having no desire to have them blasted from their faces.</p><p>“... Nott, I expected far more loyalty from one who so adamantly proclaimed to be my most faithful servant…”</p><p>“... Crabbe and Goyle, you are both likely brainless enough to have believed the lie that I was dead… but I will have need of brute force like yours in the coming future…”</p><p>“... Severus, we have already spoken about this matter. I trust that your loyalty will never waver again.”</p><p>“Never, my Lord. Your generosity knows no bounds, my Lord.”</p><p>Skyla stared in shock as she realised for the first time that one of the kneeling followers was none other than her potions professor. What on earth was he doing here?</p><p>“On that cursed night, ten years ago,” Voldemort began, his quiet voice carrying effortlessly throughout the silent clearing, “I lost my physical form. It was clever magic, I must admit, old magic. Magic that I should have foreseen.”</p><p>He paused for a moment, reflecting gravely on his own downfall.</p><p>“As it is,” he eventually continued, bringing himself back to the present, “I am far beyond the reach of death, no matter how old or powerful the magic. Yet, despite being beyond death, for the last ten years I have been forced to live an indignant half-life as nothing more than a spectre, a shadow that lurked in the far corners of the world. For ten years I have been forced to wait in unending torment for any of those who proclaimed their undying loyalty to reveal themselves to me, yet not a single one of you did. If not for my own strength, cunning and skill, I would still be living as a shade in eternal pain and suffering!”</p><p>Skyla was only half paying attention as the man roamed the clearing and presented his speech to his terrified followers, apparently growing angrier with every word. He was clearly a dangerous megalomaniac who enjoyed the sound of his own voice and she could only hope that he would continue to monologue for at least a few more minutes so that she could try and come up with some sort of a plan. She tried once again to struggle against her bindings, however they didn’t budge in the slightest and she knew that they weren’t going anywhere. She didn’t have her wand, and she had nothing on her besides the plain black robes that she wore; the left arm of her robes was torn open and the painful cut was still visible, though it had stopped bleeding now. Realising that trying to escape would be a futile endeavour, she instead tried to focus on Voldemort’s followers. These must be the ‘Death Eaters’ that Neville had mentioned to her previously; several of them shared names with students that she knew at the school, were they the fathers of those children? What about Snape, why was he here? And who exactly was this ‘Wormtail’ anyway? She felt like it was on the tip of her tongue…</p><p>“Those who were foolish enough to believe that I was gone will soon learn,” the Dark Lord continued with a vicious gleam in his eye, “both friend and foe alike will once again fear the wrath of Lord Voldemort. I am owed ten years of life, ten years of service, and I intend to reclaim it from every living soul, staring with all of you.”</p><p>“My Lord,” Macnair began hesitantly, “does this mean… do you still intend to continue the cause?”</p><p>“Continue?” Voldemort replied quietly, “I never stopped, unlike some of you. I believe in something greater, and I will remind you that once, you did too.”</p><p>“I still believe, my Lord,” Macnair said intently, “if you are back, my Lord, then I am yours to command.”</p><p>“As am I,” Nott added, “we have lost our way without you, my Lord, but we are still loyal and eager to continue the-”</p><p>“Peter Pettigrew,” Skyla muttered in realisation, “that’s who you are.”</p><p>Everyone in the clearing stopped and turned to look at Skyla, who realised far too late that she had spoken rather loudly in her moment of realisation.</p><p>“Ah, Skyla Potter,” Voldemort said with amusement in his voice, “the ‘Girl-Who-Lived’. Why, I had almost forgotten you were here.”</p><p>The Death Eaters all turned to stare at her with a mixture of emotions and reactions, which Skyla found rather curious. Some looked at her with open hatred and disgust, yet others looked at her with curiosity. Snape was giving her a strange look that almost appeared to be pity, or guilt, while Wormtail simply refused to look at her at all and instead nursed his wounded arm.</p><p>“Young Potter is the reason I returned at all,” Voldemort explained to the group at large, “you all know the story, of course, of how she ‘bested me’ as nothing but a child.”</p><p>The Death Eaters mumbled quietly in acknowledgement.</p><p>“But you see the truth of it all is that in reality, she did nothing,” he said simply, “her parents laid a clever trap, it’s true, but she was nothing more than bait. Even as I used her to facilitate my return, she once again did nothing. Even now, she still stands among us in fear and does nothing at all. Is this what you would expect from the ‘Girl-Who-Lived’? Is this who some of you expected to be the next ‘Dark Lord’? Pitiful.”</p><p>Skyla stared at him as he slowly approached her with a sneer playing on the edges of his lips.</p><p>“Because of you,” he said to her directly in a quiet, dangerous voice, “I suffered through ten years of torment. You will pay dearly for that.”</p><p>“Are you going to kill me?” Skyla asked, her voice hitching slightly.</p><p>“I was planning to,” Voldemort admitted, “until recently. Now however, I have a far more poetic form of justice in mind for you. You don’t remember any of it, do you? Nothing that you did to secure my return? Nothing about dear Severus?”</p><p>Skyla shook her head; she had no idea what he was talking about.</p><p>“Then I will grant you this, my gift to you,” he smirked, “I will let you live with the knowledge of how spectacularly you have failed everyone that you ever cared for. I will show you how pathetically your parents died and just how inferior you are to the ‘Greatest Dark Lord of All Time’, to which you could never compare in your wildest dreams.”</p><p>He moved closer and continued quietly,</p><p>“and then, after you have served your punishment, you will beg me for death, and I will mercifully grant it.”</p><p>Skyla stared into his crimson eyes with confusion and fear, and he stared back with nothing but malice.</p><p>“Legilimens!”</p><p>***************</p><p>
  <i>Ten years before resurrection.</i>
</p><p>Skyla watched through Voldemort’s eyes as he strode through the front garden of a very quaint but charming white cottage. She realised immediately that she was watching a memory; she was far too tall to be herself, her stride was far too long and she walked with a murderous intent that only he could have achieved. She couldn’t help but notice that the cosy, white cottage Voldemort was rapidly approaching was the picture perfect description of cute; it had a classic white picket fence around the edges with a well kept garden full of red roses and white lilies that were in full bloom, despite being out of season. She wondered for a moment what it would be like to live in such a cosy little home, until she heard a man’s voice shouting loudly from inside the house that distracted her from her thoughts.</p><p>“He’s here! Take her and go! I’ll hold him off!”</p><p>Voldemort let out an angry snarl as the front door of the cottage suddenly burst open and relentless spellfire came raining down in his direction. The bombardment of rapid and dangerous spells, that were chained together like gunfire, whizzed and crackled in the air around him and he was forced to use both his wand and his free hand to deflect the blows. The speed and intensity of the spellwork seemed to catch him by surprise and he was forced to rapidly defend the onslaught from what Skyla quickly realised was her own father standing in the doorway.</p><p>‘Dad…’</p><p>She felt a pang in her heart as she watched him fight with a determined expression on his face, clearly intent on defending his home and family to his last breath. He still retained his youthful handsomeness as he was not that old; he was only a few years out of school, but he had a rugged jawline and black stubble around his chin that gave him a far more mature look. She thought that despite his younger age for a parent, he gave the outward appearance of being a very dependable and mature person (which was not exactly the description that Remus or Sirius had given her of her father). He was clearly incredibly talented with a wand and he seamlessly weaved wordless spells together in one long chain of bombardment that lasted for a good twenty seconds, however in the end Voldemort’s defense was simply too good and he had a clear advantage in his ability to use wandless magic with his free hand. </p><p>It was a strange feeling to Skyla as she watched through the eyes of her parents’ killer; she could feel the magic being pulled up from Voldemort’s inner core whenever he used his hand to deflect a blow and it felt very similar to the way that she summoned her familiar blue orb, only multiplied in power a thousand fold and with far more purpose and intent behind his actions. He began to slowly, but surely, turn the deflected spells back towards her father, who was forced to retreat inside as his own spells began to explode around the door and the windows.</p><p>Skyla hadn’t realised just how much energy the ceaseless bombardment had taken out of her father until Voldemort stepped through the destroyed doorway to find a heavily panting James standing in the hallway with his wand raised.</p><p>He tried to quickly flick his wand to cast a spell, but Voldemort was just slightly faster.</p><p>“Avada Kedavra!”</p><p>Skyla felt the powerful and deadly curse come up from within the bottom of Voldemort’s heart and she shuddered at the pure hatred and malice she could feel feeding the black magic. A bright green bolt of pure energy exploded from the tip of Voldemort’s wand and rushed towards James with murderous intent. Skyla wondered if he might try to block it, or deflect it, yet surprisingly he did nothing more than lower his wand and smile, even as the bolt struck him square in the chest. </p><p>His victorious smile stayed fixed on his face even as he fell back and collapsed to the ground, dead.</p><p>Skyla stared at his body for a moment with a bizarre mixture of emotions running through her heart and her head, yet she wasn’t given the opportunity to process the scene as Voldemort simply stepped over the body without a care, proceeding upstairs without ever looking back. Skyla didn’t know if she wanted to cry, scream, shout or curse, but everything within her heart longed to return to him and defend him, protect him, to do something, anything… in the end, all she could do was remember that victorious little smile as the life left her father’s eyes, while Voldemort continued on without remorse.</p><p>After silently ascending the stairs he began to approach an open door in the upstairs hallway, which led into a warmly lit child’s bedroom. Skyla realised that it must have been her own room as a child and she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry as she noticed the little moving, enchanted snitches that had been painted onto the wall, which was both adorable and rather tragic. How this twisted man could be so heartless as to bring wanton murder into such a pure and innocent room, Skyla did not know, however Voldemort observed the scene without emotion and his wand in hand while Skyla’s mother spoke in gentle tones to the child that was standing in a crib.</p><p>“You’ve always been so smart,” Lily whispered as she stroked Skyla’s cheek, gazing down into a pair of confused emerald green eyes, “you are so clever. Now I need you to be brave too. I need you to be strong.”</p><p>‘Mum…’</p><p>If she could have cried, she would have, yet she was forced to do nothing but stare at the memory as her mother slowly turned and drew herself up to her full height, fixing a defiant expression on her face. She was painfully beautiful to Skyla’s and her heart ached at the sight, knowing what was coming.</p><p>“You will never win,” Lily said simply, “you will meet your end. If not by my hand, then by the hand of another.”</p><p>“There is no end,” Voldemort said coldly, “for I am legendary, and legends never die.”</p><p>“You aren’t a legend,” Lily replied with a humourless laugh as she stared directly into Voldemort’s eyes without fear, “you are a ghost that is still walking among the living. You are already dead, you just don’t know it. But you will.”</p><p>Skyla couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride, even as Voldemort raised his wand towards her. Her parents had been the truest of Gryffindors, brave and strong until the very end. Just like James she had let out no sounds of pain or protest, and had fallen to the ground with nothing but a sad smile on her face, that remained even as the life left her body. Voldemort stared dispassionately down at her for only a moment before turning her attention towards the child that was watching with wide green eyes.</p><p>“Nothing personal,” Voldemort said quietly, while Skyla bizarrely stared down at her younger self, “but only I can live forever.”</p><p>Without hesitation, he cast the same spell that had just ended both her mother and father, pointing his long, black wand down at the child without mercy. Without compassion. Without regret. The younger version of herself did nothing but raise a confused hand in his direction, opening her palm out to him at the very last moment. Skyla wondered why she did that; it almost looked like an invitation at first, a child seeking comfort and reaching out towards the only adult in the room, but then she began to realise that it was, in fact, the opposite.</p><p>It was defiance.</p><p>The last thing that she saw from the memory was a familiar-looking blue orb bursting forth from the palm of her younger self that blinded the room, and then she felt nothing but pain. Voldemort’s pain. </p><p>Pain that lasted for ten long years.</p><p>***************</p><p>
  <i>Six months before resurrection.</i>
</p><p>He felt it come crashing over his head like a bucket of icy cold water on a sweltering hot day. As he drifted aimlessly through a forest that he did recognise, in a country that he did not know, thinking only of the pain of his existence, a sudden burst of magic washed over him. The magic resonated within his own core and provided him with a moment of clarity; enough for him to realise who he was, and what he was doing. It was familiar magic, and the feeling was just enough to kick-start his own magical core, bringing him to his senses once again. He didn’t know that he still had access to his magic in this form at all since all he had known for ten years was pain and torment, yet he now realised that this sudden burst of magic was the answer to all of his problems. He knew that it had come from far away, yet even still, it had been enough to stir him from his pain-addled slumber. That meant only one thing. </p><p>He had to find it. Find it, and claim it for himself.</p><p>He realised after a moment that the sudden burst had brought with it an image that was buried deep within the very strands of the underlying magic. It was a memory, yet it was not his own. He found himself within a familiar-looking underground area, staring at an envelope with a name on the front that he knew all too well.</p><p>Skyla Potter,<br/>
The Cage in the Cellar,<br/>
Wool’s Orphanage,<br/>
London.</p><p>Potter. So, the child had survived the ordeal, just as he had, and had ended up in the same location that he himself had spent his horrendous childhood. It seemed that their fates were entwined, and by more than just the prophecy that had drawn him there to kill her. He knew from the prophecy that he had to kill the child in order to live forever, and this only cemented his belief further.</p><p>He considered returning to his old home at the orphanage to eliminate the child, but he had no doubt that Dumbledore would have placed numerous protections on the girl’s home and he was in no state to break them. If she was just receiving her Hogwarts letter now, however, then he may have an opportunity to kill the girl there as he knew the school like the back of his hand.</p><p>He found it rather ironic in the end; she had destroyed him, yet she had also just awoken him and he in turn would destroy her.</p><p>After all, only he could live forever.</p><p>***************</p><p>
  <i>Two months before resurrection.</i>
</p><p>Voldemort watched Skyla from the treeline of the forest as she darted through the sky on her old school broom, battling with the howling winds and harsh rain that pelted her face as she darted after the tiny golden snitch. Even though she knew it was coming, Skyla found it rather strange and unsettling to watch herself from afar as she fell through the air after the broom split and she watched her own face fill with fear as she plummeted rapidly towards the ground.</p><p>In contrast, Voldemort was suddenly full of excitement as he realised that a glorious opportunity had presented itself right in front of him. He raised his wispy, shadow hand towards the falling figure and with a tremendous amount of exertion in his current form, managed to summon a powerful gust of wind that sent her flying exactly where he wanted; to her death on the sharp, jagged treetops that awaited her in the forest.</p><p>He began to glide victoriously back into the depths of the forest, knowing that he would need to quickly confirm her death with his own eyes before fleeing the scene. As he approached her landing zone however, he soon realised that not only was she not dead, but she was on her feet and trying to help another flyer who had gone down with her. The other girl must have flown down to save her, which was utterly infuriating; he hadn’t predicted the other girl’s involvement at all.</p><p>After raging internally for a moment, a thought suddenly struck him and he began to grow curious. He could see this as his plan being thwarted, or instead, he could look at this as an opportunity, one that he couldn’t afford to waste.</p><p>A plan quickly formulated within his mind and with a purposeful wave of his ethereal hand towards the Ravenclaw flyer to blind her to his presence, he began to slowly stalk towards Skyla with a vindictive sense of excitement. He knew that he couldn’t afford to startle her too soon as she might bolt for the trees, but fortunately the girl seemed to be frozen by fear as she realised that something was not right in the forest around her. He eventually had no choice but to close the distance between them and show himself, but he was surprised (and delighted) to see that she had chosen to fight instead of running. Unfortunately for her, the useless disarming spell flew straight through his body and he ignored it completely as he approached her and began to summon all of his energy, staring into the eyes of the terrified girl as he forced his way into her mind. She immediately fell unconscious at his intrusion, however he himself felt very drained from the experience and despite having gained control for only a moment, he was forced to fade into a dormant state in the back of her mind to rest.</p><p>Still, he would be patient. He had waited for ten long, painful years; he could wait a little longer.</p><p>***************</p><p>
  <i>One month before resurrection.</i>
</p><p>‘Give me control before it’s too late! I can help you! Let me take over!’</p><p>Skyla watched with shock as she witnessed the carefully repressed memory of Snape’s advances on her within his office. She watched as she tried to fight him off to no avail, before being frozen in place and feeling his disgusting hands on her body. She had no idea that Snape had ever done such a thing and even Voldemort seemed to wince at the act within her mind, although she suspected that was likely because he himself did not enjoy the thought of Snape’s hands on him. Skyla watched with disgust as he lowered his lips down towards her own and at the very last second, she felt Voldemort’s vindictive glee rise up from within as she relented and thought;</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>Snape’s lips were mere moments from brushing against her own when Voldemort gained control and he immediately twitched her finger, forcing his energy into the motion and breaking the stasis spell with ease. Now free, he quickly thrust her hand forward and sent a wandless blast of pure energy into the man’s chest that sent him spinning end-over-end, eventually crashing into the far wall and slumping down in a shocked daze.</p><p>“Ah… at last…”</p><p>Voldemort relished the feeling of freedom, control and power as he flexed Skyla’s fingers and shoulders, finally enjoying the feeling of being in control of a human body once again. The small, frail body certainly didn’t compare to his previously far more powerful form, but it was a physical form nonetheless. She seemed to respond surprisingly well to his unique brand of powerful magic, and despite her young age he had managed to force a surprising amount of raw power through her small hands.</p><p>“What-how-where did you learn to-”</p><p>Snape began to splutter as he untangled himself from his robes and rose to his feet in shock, however all he received in response was a deathly glare and one word from Skyla.</p><p>“Crucio!”</p><p>Using nothing but her hand, she sent a powerful, unforgivable curse to Snape which caught him completely and utterly by surprise. He dropped to the floor in pain and grunted loudly in agony, though to his credit he did not grovel, scream or beg as others often did while under the effects of the torture curse. Voldemort had to admit however that if there was one thing Severus Snape understood, it was pain.</p><p>He held the spell for a full minute, before he eventually relented; he didn’t want the man to go insane. </p><p>Not yet.</p><p>“Severus,” Skyla hissed quietly, “you have much to answer for.”</p><p>“Wha-” Snape mumbled through his twitching lips, however he paused as he looked up and Skyla flashed her crimson eyes towards him, allowing him to see through the facade as to who was truly in control underneath the surface.</p><p>“Y-you live?” Snape asked in shock, his fingers still twitching slightly.</p><p>“Legends never die,” Skyla said smugly, “and I am nothing if not legend.”</p><p>Despite his pain, Snape seemed to process the situation rather quickly after getting over the initial shock. He managed to force his muscles to obey through the pain and he immediately knelt on one knee before her.</p><p>“My Lord,” he said quietly.</p><p>“Am I, Severus?” Skyla mused, “am I still?”</p><p>“Always, my Lord,” Snape said with a bow of his head.</p><p>“Then where were you, Severus?” Skyla asked dangerously, “when I had need of you? Where have you been for ten long years?”</p><p>“I… you killed Lily, my Lord,” Snape replied without meeting her eyes, “I had nothing left. I was nothing anymore.”</p><p>“You made an oath, Severus, an oath that goes far beyond your mortal, lustful urges for women. Instead of returning to your master’s aid and continuing our cause, you spent your time in a school, moping about a woman from ten years ago and taking advantage of children to make yourself feel better. This serves our cause how, Severus?”</p><p>“I did no such thing my Lord,” Snape said quickly, “I have never touched any other-”</p><p>“Your perversions are of no interest to me,” Skyla interrupted with a disdainful look, “I merely regret that you wasted valuable time on such frivolous pursuits that could have been spent furthering our cause.”</p><p>Snape said nothing further in protest and merely looked away, refusing to meet her eyes.</p><p>“I should thank you, I suppose,” Skyla continued, surprising Snape, “if not for your base urges then young Potter here would have never voluntarily relented control to me. I offered her an out, and she took it gladly.”</p><p>“How did you even get inside her mind, my Lord?” Snape asked hesitantly.</p><p>“One of my more genius plans,” Skyla replied smugly, “and ultimately none of your concern.” </p><p>“O-of course, my Lord.”</p><p>“What IS your concern, however, is what happens next.”</p><p>“My Lord?”</p><p>“I was going to kill you for abandoning me,” Skyla mused thoughtfully, “but then, I thought of something better. You know, of course, of the legendary potion that restores life to the lifeless.”</p><p>“I am one of the few remaining Potion Masters who do, yes,” Snape said slowly.</p><p>“You will prepare it for me, within the safety of the forest.”</p><p>“M-my Lord,” Snape replied carefully after a moment, “the potion you speak of… it requires a great number of valuable and exotic ingredients that even I cannot obtain, and it takes several weeks to brew-”</p><p>“I will see to the venom,” Skyla said impatiently, “you will see to the unicorn blood. The rest you can obtain from Knockturn Alley, I assume you are actually being paid for your work here, correct? I will instruct you on where to find the bones. Potter will provide the blood.”</p><p>“But my Lord, to slay a unicorn-”</p><p>“Leaves the killer with a cursed life; a half life,” Skyla sneered, “but you yourself said that you are nothing anymore. I trust that you will fulfill this task satisfactorily.”</p><p>Snape stared at her and Skyla could feel his hesitation and reluctance.</p><p>“What about the sacrifice, my Lord? The flesh of a willing servant?”</p><p>Skyla stared at him blankly for a moment, until he sighed in resignation.</p><p>“... as you wish.”</p><p>“Do not be so glum, Severus,” Skyla laughed humourlessly, “I am a merciful lord. Do as I command, and I will give you your heart’s desire.”</p><p>Snape raised an eyebrow slightly at her words.</p><p>“When I walk the earth once again,” Skyla said smugly, “you can have the girl for yourself and satisfy whatever depraved perversions that you wish.”</p><p>Snape perked up at his words, however she quickly added;</p><p>“-but only once I walk the earth once again. Until then, you are to keep your distance and do not startle her or give her any indication what you are up to.”</p><p>Snape seemed to think deeply for a moment, until he bowed his head low and quietly mumbled,</p><p>“It will be done, my Lord.”</p><p>Voldemort laughed cruelly at the thought of Skyla’s unfortunate future, finding it a rather humourous end to the ‘Girl-Who-Lived’. He knew that he would need to kill the girl eventually, but he relished the idea of leaving her with Severus for five, ten years perhaps, until the girl openly begged him for death.</p><p>He would then, finally, grant her request. He was a merciful lord after all.</p><p>Skyla felt nothing but pure disgust as Voldemort subtly probed Snape’s mind and she saw the horrible visions floating within it that would haunt her for a very long time. She could feel the bile rising in the back of her throat, despite being stuck in a memory, while Voldemort’s laughter rang throughout her mind, though she knew not if that was from the past or the present.</p><p>***************</p><p>
  <i>Three weeks before resurrection.</i>
</p><p>Skyla silently made her way along the second floor corridor in almost complete darkness, stalking through the empty hallway and peering around with nearly perfect vision in the dark. There was a slight blue tint to her vision and she realised that Voldemort must have cast some kind of enhancement spell, as she also felt extremely sharp and alert like a cat prowling in the night, hunting for a stray rodent with her elevated senses. She noticed when she looked down that her body was almost completely invisible; aside from a very slight shimmer that only she could have noticed, she would be impossible to detect by the naked eye. She was loathe to admit it, but it really was incredible magic to behold, especially to see if coming from her own body.</p><p>For some reason, Voldemort approached the unused girls’ bathroom on the second floor that was the home to the infamously unhappy ghost, Moaning Myrtle, who wailed night and day and harassed any girls brave enough to try and use the bathroom. Skyla had never been in there before, having been warned by every soul in the castle to stay away, yet he strode confidently into the bathroom as though it were his own home. Fortunately, the ghost in question was nowhere to be seen and was likely sitting in one of the U-bends, but Skyla was not headed towards a cubicle. She was instead purposefully heading to the center of the room where multiple ceramic sinks converged around a large stone pillar.</p><p>“The Heir of Slytherin commands you to open!”</p><p>Skyla spoke loudly and apparently it was some kind of spell or password as the stone pillar began to immediately withdraw into the ground at her words. As the pillar disappeared into the depths below, it left behind a deep, dark passageway that descended vertically down into an unknown depth. Skyla simply stepped into the open space without a care in the world and after free falling for a few seconds, she used her magic to stablise herself and drift gracefully down the rest of the way. It was an incredibly impressive feat, though Skyla couldn’t help but wonder as she watched the memory if it was a bit unnecessary and whether Voldemort had simply wanted to flex his magic while occupying her body. Apparently, ten years without magic left him wanting to use complex spells at every opportunity, however she had to admit that the joyful feeling of floating down by magic alone was rather infectious. She was beginning to understand what he was doing when he used his magic; the way that he used his inner core as a source of power was fascinating and as much as she hated the fact that he was using her body like a puppet while she slept unconsciously in the back of her own mind, it was an eye-opening experience that revealed just how much power and knowledge the man possessed, and how far below him she was in ability and skill. He had wanted to show off his prowess and utter dominion over Skyla, and he had certainly proved it several times over.</p><p>She eventually landed lightly on her feet and stepped out of what appeared to be a large pipe into a strange anti-chamber that was littered with the old bones of rodents, small animals and possibly even humans, though Skyla felt her stomach turn at the thought and tried not to think too much about what that implied. </p><p>Voldemort guided them both through the complicated maze of twisting underground tunnels and gigantic pipes with practiced ease, eventually passing through a large vault-like door after once again demanding it to open before ‘the Heir of Slytherin’. With no further need for invisibility once they were inside, he canceled the spell with an almost lazy wave of his hand before continuing on.</p><p>Skyla soon found herself standing within a large chamber that housed a multitude of statues in different, dramatic poses that lined a long, decorative stone pathway. The carefully laid stone pathway was flanked by two ornamental waterways that seemed to be flowing by magic alone, and it gave the chamber an air of superiority and elegance from the skillful craftsmanship, despite having been clearly squeezed underneath the castle around the existing sewerage systems. An unnecessarily large statue of Salazar Slytherin’s bust occupied the center (she recognised his balding head from the drawings of the founders in Hogwarts; a History) and she now realised why the chamber was so unnecessary elegant while being buried deep underneath a castle. She had come to learn for herself that ‘unnecessary elegance’ was a defining traits of most Slytherins. Salazar must have likely built it himself, or at least had a clear say in the layout as everything in the chamber flowed directly towards the statue of his own chipped head.</p><p>If Skyla didn’t believe Voldemort’s ‘Heir of Slytherin’ claim at first, she certainly did now. Not that she was particularly surprised; apparently being a bald megalomaniac ran in the family.</p><p>Voldemort seemed very familiar with the chamber already and he immediately demanded the statue to open, which it did in an almost comical manner. The statue opened its mouth ridiculously wide which gave Salazar an expression of ludicrous shock that Skyla may have laughed at, were it not for the fact that something very large was beginning to emerge from the depths of the statue. She could only describe the monster that slid out from Salazars mouth as a ‘snake’, yet the description didn’t quite do the creature justice. Once it had emerged, it rose up to its full height that completely towered over Skyla and it stretched its mouth open with a angry hiss, revealing a set of deadly looking fangs. The creature turned to look at Skyla, however for some reason Voldemort immediately looked away and stared instead at its lower body instead.</p><p>“Who are you?” the snake asked angrily, “you are not the heir!”</p><p>Voldemort seemed unsurprised and began to converse with the snake, however Skyla was in pure shock; how the hell was Voldemort calmly standing in front of this monstrous beast and having a casual conversation? How were they even conversing? Why could the snake talk?</p><p>She could do little more than mentally shake her head at the strange, wide world of magic that she still did not fully understand.</p><p>“My friend it is I, Tom, we met over fifty ago,” Skyla said, “I was forced to close the chamber after we killed the mudblood in the bathroom above. You knew me then as a young boy, but I have inhabited this form for now to return here.”</p><p>“You… you are the heir?” the snake asked in confusion, “you speak our tongue but you do not smell like he did…”</p><p>“I am,” Skyla said confidently, “this girl that I occupy currently, tried to murder me and she nearly succeeded. But I am like you; a true Slytherin. I endure beyond time. I need to return to this world but to do so, I need some of your venom. When I have returned to my true form, we will continue our grand mission, my friend.”</p><p>The snake seemed to appraise her for a moment and it still seemed slightly confused, however it eventually relented lowered its large head while closing its eyes and it opened its mouth just wide enough to reveal its long and deadly fangs once again. Skyla pulled a vial from within her robes and raised it up to the snake, who dutifully allowed Skyla to place the vial under one of the terrifying fangs while it began to excrete a solid green toxin. Skyla collected the venom until the vial was almost completely full, before she stoppered it and put it away with a satisfied smirk.</p><p>“Am I… am I to go and murder now?” the snake asked while tilting its head.</p><p>“No,” Skyla replied with a shake of her head while still avoiding its eyes entirely, “I have a much greater plan for us than merely ridding the school of mudbloods.”</p><p>“Plan? What is this plan?”</p><p>“We won’t just rid the school of their kind,” Skyla said vindictively, “we will rid the entire world of their filth. Together. And when it is done, we will take our rightful place on the throne that rules the entire world.”</p><p>“Only the Heir of Slytherin could be so ambitious,” the snake said with what sounded like amusement in its voice, “you truly are the heir. Or should I say, heiress?” it added with a little confusion in its voice.</p><p>“Semantics,” Skyla said dismissively, “what is important is that you meet me in the forest in three weeks time where we will begin our noble work.”</p><p>“But are you heir, or heiress?” the snake asked curiously.</p><p>“Whatever you prefer, it matters little to me,” Skyla huffed in annoyance, “just make sure you are there.”</p><p>The snake nodded its head in understanding, before slithering back inside the statue to patiently await its time once again.</p><p>***************</p><p>
  <i>Two weeks before resurrection.</i>
</p><p>Skyla found herself, once again, creeping around in the middle of the night, which was apparently Voldemort’s favourite time to go wandering around with her body. He slipped out of the girls’ dormitory with ease and Skyla felt a slight pang in her chest as she noticed Hermione sleeping peacefully in her bed, curled up into a tight little ball under her blankets. She had to admit that the thought of Voldemort walking around their dormitory at night was deeply unsettling; just how many times had the murderous madman walked straight past her best friend? Skyla shuddered and wished she hadn’t thought about it at all.</p><p>Voldemort proceeded out into the empty common room and appeared to be heading towards the portrait, yet something caused him to suddenly stop and slowly turn back around, as if in disbelief at what he had just seen. </p><p>Sitting very comfortably on one of the armchairs, curled into a cosy-looking ball, was a very large rat. It was certainly a strange sight, but from the way Voldemort had stopped and stared intently at the creature, Skyla suspected as she watched on that there was something more to this rat than just the fact that it had made itself cosy on her favourite chair. </p><p>With a malicious grin forming, Voldemort quickly raised Skyla’s hand and cast a stasis charm on the rat, freezing it in position. Its eyes suddenly sprang open and it began looking around in a wild panic, until it spotted Skyla leaning over it and leering down.</p><p>“Wormtail,” Skyla whispered to the frozen rat as she grabbed it by the tail, “how unexpected. Let’s go for a little walk, shall we?”</p><p>Ten minutes later Skyla was knocking on the door to Snape’s office, while still holding the frozen rat in the air by the tail with a look of disgust on her face.</p><p>“Potter? What is the meaning of-”</p><p>“Get out of my way,” Skyla hissed vehemently, causing Snape to immediately back up out of the doorway and give her access to his office.</p><p>She carelessly tossed the rat down onto Snape’s chair, before turning and quickly sealing the office door with her wandless magic, preventing any form of escape for the rat. For good measure, she quickly waved her hand in the direction of the walls and sealed the cracks in, preventing any daring escapes from occurring that way. Skyla couldn’t help but watch closely as he waved his hands; he made it look so simple but the raw energy coming up from her core was so complex and powerful.</p><p>Satisfied with her work, Skyla turned back to the rat and waved her hand again, forcing the rat to change back into his true form. Moments later, instead of a large rat, there was now a small, chubby man sitting in Snape’s chair, looking up at both her and Snape with fear and confusion in his eyes.</p><p>“What-what is the m-meaning of this?” he stuttered with difficulty, apparently having almost forgotten how to talk as a human.</p><p>“Wormtail,” Skyla said quietly, “betrayal seems to be second nature to you. First you betray the Potters, then you betray me.”</p><p>She allowed the facade to drop and flashed her crimson eyes at him for a moment, causing the man to freeze on the spot. Skyla had begun to notice that whenever Voldemort had needed to drop the facade and reveal his eyes that he had simply allowed his inner core to freely flow outwards from his (or her) body, which must have been what was giving him the dangerous crimson eyes that terrified all who saw them. The thought that the deep red was simply his raw, powerful magic given form was not a comforting thought however; he truly held power that no-one could ever fully understand.</p><p>“Is it-could it be…?”</p><p>Wormtail looked to Snape for confirmation, who nodded.</p><p>“Your master returns,” Snape said quietly, “show your respect.”</p><p>“My Lord!”</p><p>Wormtail scrambled around from the desk and threw himself onto one knee before her.</p><p>“I knew you would return,” he said excitedly, “I knew it!”</p><p>“Really…?” Skyla asked curiously, “and yet you did not come to find me? To aid me?”</p><p>“You always said that you were above death, my Lord,” Wormtail said quickly, “I knew that you would not have been bested by the Potters. But… how are you here? Why are you in her body, of all places?”</p><p>“A better question, Wormtail, is why are you here?” Skyla asked flatly, “why are you posing as a rat within the Gryffindor common room at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?”</p><p>“My Lord, after your fall, I knew that I would be of no use to you if I went to Azkaban,” Wormtail explained in a hurried voice, “so I set up Sirius Black and faked my own death with Lucius’ aid, both freeing myself and getting revenge on one of your old enemies. Lucius helped the others too, and some were imprisoned but several got away completely free!”</p><p>“Black is of no concern to me; your own plot for revenge means little,” Skyla said in an irritated tone, “and none of that explains why you are here.”</p><p>“My Lord, I used my animagus form to infiltrate a wizarding family,” Wormtail continued, “the father works in the Ministry and is very vocally opposed to Lucius. Their whole family were blood traitors to us in the war and worked closely with Dumbledore. The Weasleys-”</p><p>“Those orange-haired breeders?” Skyla scoffed.</p><p>“-the very same. I have been lying in wait for ten years my Lord, waiting for any news of your return. I managed to form a bond with the youngest of them, as disgraceful as it is, and he brought me here to Hogwarts. I thought to secretly recruit a few to our cause, or at least spy on what was happening around Dumbledore, but I never imagined that you would also be here.”</p><p>“Hm.”</p><p>Skyla appraised the man thoughtfully.</p><p>“You claim to remain loyal, then? After all this time?”</p><p>“My Lord, my loyalty never wavered,” Wormtail said insistently, “not once.”</p><p>“We shall see about that…”</p><p>A plan began to form within Voldemort’s mind.</p><p>“We will test your loyalty then, Wormtail,” Skyla said quietly with a side-eye look to Snape, “I could certainly use a hand.”</p><p>Snape offered nothing but a slight twitch of his lip at the comment, while Wormtail enthusiastically nodded his head in agreement, unaware of just what it was that he would be ‘asked’ to do.</p><p>***************</p><p>
  <i>Thirty minutes before resurrection.</i>
</p><p>Skyla paced around the familiar clearing within the forest, watching Wormtail carefully as he completed the final stages of Snape’s potion. The unexpected encounter with Wormtail had offered Voldemort a fantastic opportunity; he was loathe to actually remove the hand of his Potion Master since unlike Wormtail, Severus could actually prove to be useful to his future plans. For all of the man’s many failings, including his apparent weakness for Potter women, he was gifted with potions in a way that even Voldemort was not. There was still the slight risk of Wormtail making a blunder with the potion in its final stages but if that were to happen, he would simply summon Severus to fix it who would be forced to complete the process himself.</p><p>Voldemort smirked; he had it all figured out. A willing sacrifice to resurrect himself, a spy planted firmly in Dumbledore’s midst, and an enemy with powerful magical blood that he would use to renew his flesh, before laughing at her suffering and handing her over to Severus as a tool to ensure his continued loyalty. The plan had finally come together and he knew that he would arise far greater and far more terrible than he had ever been in the past.</p><p>All thanks to the Girl-Who-Lived.</p><p>“Bind the girl to this tree,” Skyla said after a few minutes had passed, “I will be leaving this form soon and we do not need any complications.”</p><p>“Yes, my Lord. Incarcerous!”</p><p>Thin ropes appeared out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around Skyla’s body, binding her in place.</p><p>“Will that do, my Lord?”</p><p>“It will suffice,” Skyla said indifferently, “she is a child, after all.”</p><p>Wormtail shrugged and returned to his work on the potion, while Skyla experienced the extraordinarily strange sensation of departing from her own body, as if she had suddenly stepped into her own shadow. She drifted out in the form of the familiar shade that had haunted her for so long and she peered back at her now unconscious body for a moment, before retreating to the safety of the treeline to await the potion’s completion.</p><p>“I really ought to thank you, Potter,” Voldemort whispered quietly to himself from the shadows, “because of you, I can live once again. Because of you, our cause continues. I hope you enjoy the next few years with Severus, and I sincerely hope that it causes you even a mere fraction of the pain that you have caused me.”</p><p>***************</p><p>Skyla’s eyes snapped open as Voldemort suddenly withdrew from her mind, smirking down at her as her emotions came crashing down into her brain like the Hogwarts Express with no brakes. She gasped loudly as she tried to process the rush of images, thoughts and feelings that were flooding in; it was certainly a relief to be back in her own body, but the reality of all the memories she had seen had all hit her at once and she could do little more than let out a choked sob as her heart began to break. While she had been watching the memories she had been feeling Voldemort’s emotions mixing with her own, which had created something of an emotional barrier between her and the reality of the events. Now however, as reality struck her, all of her true feelings came to bear and tears flowed freely down her cheeks while Voldemort simply laughed.</p><p>“The Girl-Who-Lived,” he sneered to his Death Eaters, “crying in fear. Is this the girl they told the stories about? You are all fools if you truly believed a word of it.”</p><p>She had no room left within her heart or her mind to process his words and she ignored him as she struggled to process the revelations of what had happened in the past few weeks. She realised now that this entire time, Snape had been planning to force himself on her. It made sense as she looked back; the strange familiarity, the unnecessary gifting of points, the complete attention that he gave her in class and the way that he had suddenly begun to give her the cold shoulder after Voldemort’s intervention. She felt physically ill as the memory of his hands came back into her mind and she saw his ugly face swooping down towards her. She looked over at the man in question and saw him staring at her with pity in his eyes, which caused an intense, unfamiliar feeling to start rising in her heart.</p><p>Her eyes turned to Wormtail and he simply avoided her gaze entirely. The nerve of the man; he who had betrayed her parents and taken her away from a loving and adorable home to live a life of misery in the bowels of that despicable orphanage, and he could not even look her in the eye? She regretted the fact that Sirius hadn’t killed the rat when he had the chance and the tight feeling in her chest only increased further as her breathing began to intensify.</p><p>She looked around briefly, realising that the gigantic snake had to be lurking somewhere in the forest. Not only did Voldemort intend to make her suffer personally, he intended to use the monster to kill the ‘mudbloods’, which she knew was a derogatory term for muggleborns. Muggleborns like Hermione who were beautiful and kind and intelligent, who worked harder than anyone of those that had been gifted an advantage by growing up in a magical family. Most muggleborns had to overcome so much adversity to simply make it into the magical world, and he wanted to release a monster to kill them? While people like Draco and Ron got a free pass simply because of their birth? Why did he hate muggles so much? She thought of Hermione’s kind and caring parents suffering at his hands and she bit her lip painfully, drawing blood as her emotions threatened to burst forth from her chest.</p><p>She looked back to the smug face of Voldemort who was still laughing at her, along with the other Death Eaters who had joined in to placate him, and she realised what it was that she was feeling. She had been angry in the past, she had been upset, she had felt hopeless, yet this was something new entirely.</p><p>She closed her eyes in one final attempt to control herself, yet as she stared into the black she could only see the images of her father and mother burned into her mind. Her skillful father who fought without fear, committed to defending his family until the end. Her beautiful mother that refused to be intimidated and stared down the most dangerous wizard alive. </p><p>They had lived, and died, with bravery and courage; she knew that Voldemort had attempted to show her their deaths in order to traumatise her and yet, she felt nothing but pride as she remembered their faces, rejecting his evil until the very end.</p><p>She remembered her father’s victorious smile; he had no fear of death, and would gladly go to protect those he lived. She remembered her mother’s voice, telling her to be strong. Telling her to be brave.</p><p>She opened her eyes and stared at Voldemort, causing his laughter to falter and fade and a few of the Death Eaters to let out audible gasps of astonishment.</p><p>To hell with this madman if he thought she was going to let her family down.</p><p>Before anyone could act, Skyla twitched her finger by her side and channeled her energy up from within her inner core, just as Voldemort had done in her body on so many occasions. Her body responded immediately to the now familiar feeling and she immediately burst free from the ropes, causing a few cries of disbelief at the wandless, wordless magic that she had just performed. She simply glared angrily back at them with the new feeling in her heart and they collectively took a step back from her.</p><p>“The Girl-Who-Lived,” Avery muttered in a carrying whisper, “loo-look at her eyes!”</p><p>Skyla stared with righteous fury in her heart as her eyes burned bright blue, holding the promises of retribution and vengeance to all who had harmed her. Her pupils were narrow and constricted in the same manner as Voldemort’s, except that instead of the infamous dark, crimson red iris she burned with a righteous blue fire that struck a deeper fear into the hearts of the Death Eaters than Voldemort’s ever had. She radiated power, just as he did, yet she held something else within her heart and within her eyes that caused a deeper terror.</p><p>The loss of her innocence, and the arrival of her fury.</p><p>“You wanted to break me, didn’t you?” Skyla said, her words trembling with anger, “you wanted to show me my parents dying. You wanted to make me cry, to run, to live in fear. You wanted me to give up and lie down to die.”</p><p>Voldemort narrowed his eyes at her as she stepped forward once again. Her burning blue met his crimson red and the two stared at each other, his deeply held hatred and malice meeting nothing but her burning fury.</p><p>“Skyla, stop!”</p><p>Snape’s pleading voice rang through the air as he stepped forward towards her, getting her attention.</p><p>“Don’t do this, I can’t lose you too. I can look after you, I can-”</p><p>Skyla turned in his direction with a slight snarl and thrust her hand forward. She channeled the energy from her inner core, just as Voldemort had once done, and her body seemed to remember the action. She smiled vindictively as Snape was sent blasting off into the trees by the overwhelming force of her magic.</p><p>“Never speak to me again,” she growled in anger, while the Death Eaters around them took several large steps back in fear.</p><p>“Stay your places!” Voldemort spat angrily, “she is nothing! It is but a handful of weak spells that she learned only from me!”</p><p>Skyla stopped and stared with curiosity for a moment, letting her hand fall down to her sides.</p><p>“You know it, don’t you?” Voldemort sneered, “you may have learned a few tricks from my memories, but I have a lifetime of knowledge that you have no idea about. My power surpasses yours in every way and you know that if we duel, you will die.”</p><p>“You are definitely far more powerful than I,” Skyla admitted, still staring with curiosity, “and I don’t think I could ever win against you alone.” </p><p>“So you see reason, then?” Voldemort smirked, “you will take your place under Severus and I-”</p><p>“No,” Skyla said simply, “I will not.”</p><p>Voldemort halted, staring at her with renewed anger.</p><p>“I said I couldn’t win against you alone,” Skyla said quietly, while tilting her head at somewhere to Voldemort’s left, “but I’m not alone. Am I?”</p><p>Voldemort stared at her for a moment in confusion, until the sound of a several cries and screams rang out behind him.</p><p>“I arrive, little heiress!” the great basilisk called out happily as he came crashing through the treeline, sending the Death Eaters scampering for their lives at the sight of the terrifying creature baring its gigantic fangs.</p><p>“I never thought that I would be glad to see you!” Skyla called out with a laugh as she watched the Death Eaters retreat behind Voldemort in fear.</p><p>“You are the heiress,” the basilisk said simply, “I come to your aid.”</p><p>“What? NO!” Voldemort screamed in anger, “IT IS ME THAT IS THE HEIR, YOU BRAINLESS IDIOT-”</p><p>He was forced to look away as the basilisk turned its gaze towards him and he took several large steps back, raising his wand towards the creature.</p><p>“DON’T MAKE ME KILL YOU!”</p><p>“I take orders only from the heiress,” the basilisk said simply, “you may speak parseltongue, but you are not the heir. Tom here is.”</p><p>The basilisk nodded its head towards Skyla who laughed loudly, and Voldemort simply gaped in astonishment at the stupidity of the creature.</p><p>“Basilisk or not, I will kill the both of you,” Voldemort snarled in anger.</p><p>“Maybe,” Skyla admitted, “but unlike you, I’m not afraid to die. Not anymore. My parents will welcome me with open arms. Who is waiting for you, ‘Lord Voldemort’? Who is waiting for you in the beyond?”</p><p>Voldemort raised his wand at her, but the basilisk quickly moved over and placed itself in-between them, forcing him and his Death Eaters to avert their gaze once again.</p><p>“Why don’t they look at you?” Skyla asked curiously; she had looked at the great serpent’s bright yellow eyes several times and nothing untoward had happened to her.</p><p>“My gaze is deadly to those who I wish to kill,” the basilisk replied, “but not to you, little heiress. You are safe.”</p><p>“Oh? well I’m glad to hear it,” Skyla laughed, only now just realising how close to death she had actually come by looking the snake in the eye several times over Voldemort’s shoulder.</p><p>“Climb on my back, little heiress,” the basilisk said quietly, “I can carry you away from here.”</p><p>“I’m not going anywhere,” Skyla said with a shake of her head, “if I’m going to die, I’m going to die here. I’m going to die fighting.”</p><p>The snake made a strange noise that Skyla could only interpret as laughter.</p><p>“You remind me of him. Salazar.”</p><p>“You knew him?” Skyla asked in surprise, while still keeping an eye on Voldemort and his Death Eaters who appeared to be frozen with indecision at the strange, and terrifying, new enemy.</p><p>“He raised me from an egg,” the snake explained with no concern for Voldemort or his allies, “he left me in the school to defend it against those who would harm the magical people. Then, he left, and eventually he died.”</p><p>“I’m sorry to hear that,” Skyla said quietly.</p><p>“I am not. He died a glorious death,” the snake said indifferently, “and he always told me that to die a glorious death meant to live beyond time, for you will become a legend-”</p><p>“-and legends never die,” Skyla finished.</p><p>“Somewhere over the years his words got twisted,” the snake explained, “and over time every heir that passed through became more and more obsessed with immortality and the desire to ‘never die’. Even you approached me with this same thought; but I sense you are different now. Something has changed.”</p><p>Skyla stared at Voldemort, who was still averting his gaze and holding his wand in their direction, with a renewed understanding.</p><p>“You’re right, I’ve changed,” she said quietly, “I used to be afraid, but now I am not. I think to die doing something meaningful means more than living a long life that is meaningless.”</p><p>“You are the first heir to truly understand,” the snake replied with admiration in his voice, “I have lived for a thousand years, but in none of them have I achieved anything. A glorious death is all I ask for now.” </p><p>“Well that, I think I can provide,” Skyla chuckled slightly, “we may very well die right here, you know.”</p><p>“In that case, hurry up and get on my back, and together we fight like the times of old.”</p><p>Skyla couldn’t help but laugh as, to the complete and utter astonishment of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, she began to climb up the basilisks back and sat herself just behind the very large head, while positioning her knees on either side as if she were riding a particularly large horse.</p><p>“What’s your name, great one?” Skyla asked the snake.</p><p>“I do not have a name,” the basilisk replied simply, “I know yours is Tom.”</p><p>“You know, I don’t really like that name anymore,” Skyla said with amusement, “doesn’t suit me. How about we go with… Skyla, instead.”</p><p>“As you wish, little heiress Skyla.”</p><p>Skyla caught Voldemort’s eye with a wink, who simply stared directly back at her with pure rage. She finally felt free; she had spent her life trapped and caged, yet it was only now as she embraced the thought of her own death, that she finally felt alive.</p><p>Skyla held out her palm towards Voldemort and flashed him a fearless smile; her signature star-shaped scar glowed bright blue and he snarled as he raised his wand in return.</p><p>“For Salazar,” her new friend hissed.</p><p>“For mum and dad,” Skyla added quietly.</p><p>Together they sprung forward, and the battle had begun.</p><p>***************</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Blowing Bubbles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“She hasn’t come by the hospital wing at all, she must be out on the grounds somewhere.”</p>
<p>“I’d ‘ave seen her come by, I was choppin’ wood outside all mornin’. She always says ‘ello when she passes by my hut. Unless she went to hide in the greenhouses or summit?”</p>
<p>“Excuse me, Skyla knows all too well that my plants are not to be trifled with lightly, as do all of my first years.”</p>
<p>“Well, where else could she be?”</p>
<p>“Has anyone checked the dungeons? Where is Severus anyway? Still fiddling with his potions?”</p>
<p>“Probably fiddling with himself.”</p>
<p>“Remus!”</p>
<p>“What about the headmaster? Has there been any contact?”</p>
<p>“None. He is away for the matter of Sirius Black’s trial as the Chief Warlock. I don’t even know if they allow owls in there.”</p>
<p>“Then it is up to you, Minerva, to decide what we do, before it is too late.”</p>
<p>“What are you implying, Remus?”</p>
<p>“Nothing. Yet. But I worry for the girl.”</p>
<p>“As do we all; wherever she is hiding, she’s clearly distressed and needs our help.”</p>
<p>“What if… she isn’t ‘hiding’ at all? What if someone has actually taken the girl from the grounds, or the castle itself?”</p>
<p>The assembled staff collectively paused for a moment as Remus finally voiced the worry that had been hovering in the back of all their minds. The thought held far too many implications for most to dare considering, however it was, of course, their duty to face the uncomfortable prospect. After Skyla’s disappearance had become far too obvious to deny any longer, a general emergency had been called and the school houses had been confined to their common rooms and dormitories while the staff discussed their next moves. Most still seemed to be optimistically holding onto the hope that the girl had simply had a mental break down and had run away to hide, however even they knew it was just wishful thinking on their part. Without the presence of Professor Dumbledore, who was away as Chief Warlock for the trial of Sirius Black in the Wizengamot, the running of the school fell to Professor McGonagall and she seemed rather hesitant to escalate the situation herself. The timing of Dumbledore’s departure was quite simply awful and the irony wasn’t exactly lost on Remus; it seemed to be story of Skyla’s life that whenever she needed the wise and experienced old man, he was preoccupied with other things and was, ironically, in the one place that Skyla certainly wasn’t.</p>
<p>Of course, Remus would be the first to admit that it was a little hypocritical of him to place the blame squarely on Dumbledore’s shoulders, when he himself had let the girl down in any number of ways over the years with his own absence. Still, he still couldn’t help but feel a small kindling of resentment begin to ignite within his heart towards the Headmaster, even if it was mostly due to his own personal sense of guilt and the need to project at least some small part of the blame onto someone else. While it was true that Sirius had always been far closer to James than Remus could ever hope to be, and had been James’ best man, godfather to his child and anything else that could bestow a title, Remus still knew that he had let his former friends down by not taking any active interest in their daughter after their deaths. He had told himself that he had done the right thing by trusting it all to Dumbledore and excused his actions away by convincing himself that no child should be raised around a werewolf, and that he knew absolutely nothing about raising children anyway, but he had to admit that he had known in his heart all along that he had simply been a coward who was unable to confront the ghosts of his past. He had done his best to avoid thinking about Skyla at all in the years following her parents death due to his own selfish reasons, however his little bubble of ignorance had been burst after the arrival of the girl at Hogwarts and as he began to truly consider the wide variety of unpleasant scenarios that may have befallen her under his watch, his own sense of guilt began to gnaw painfully at his heart.</p>
<p>He had let her down in the past and now when she needed his help he, just like Dumbledore, was nowhere to be seen.</p>
<p>He knew that he needed to find her, and he needed to find her soon.</p>
<p>“Remus? Where are you going?” McGonagall asked in surprise as he suddenly got to his feet.</p>
<p>“I’m not going to sit around here while we argue endlessly about what to do,” he said firmly, “I’m going to go find her.”</p>
<p>“We’ve been over this,” McGonagall said exasperatedly, “charging all over the place with no plan won’t get us anywhere. If… if the girl has truly been taken, then she has been taken far away. We will need to alert the Ministry and-”</p>
<p>“We don’t have the time to wait for them to arrive,” Remus scoffed impatiently, “even their best hit squads still take forever to mobilise, I’ve seen it. Besides, can we really trust the Ministry with this? She is meant to be attending a very high profile trial that the Ministry has a vested interest in. Even if they found her, who knows what they would do. They could even arrest her for missing the trial. They could even be the ones behind it!”</p>
<p>McGonagall pursed her lips, while the other staff members at the table grumbled their active disagreement with Remus’ words. While they may have clearly trusted the Ministry to a fault, McGonagall instead met Remus’ determined eyes and let out a soft, worried sigh.</p>
<p>As much as she hated to admit it, Remus had a point. This was no normal situation and Skyla was no normal girl.</p>
<p>“Do you even have a plan?” She asked Remus pointedly, “beyond charging around the castle like a rampaging hippogriff?”</p>
<p>“Well… I-”</p>
<p>He wasn’t exactly about to admit that he didn’t, but thankfully, Hagrid saved him from needing to come up with anything. </p>
<p>“You said she’s not in the castle, and we’re pretty sure she’s not on the grounds, right?” Hagrid pitched in, having sat quietly for the past few minutes in deep thought.</p>
<p>“Then… isn’t it obvious where she is?”</p>
<p>The staff looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism.</p>
<p>“She’s gotta’ be in the forest,” he said simply.</p>
<p>“You think that she’s in the forest?” McGonagall asked incredulously, “she’s not so stupid as to go wandering around in there. In fact she’s very intelligent-”</p>
<p>“I ain’t sayin’ she’s in the forest ‘cause she’s dumb,” Hagrid replied with a small frown, “I’m sayin’ she’s probably in there because it’s where people who are drawn to trouble end up, and Skyla is definitely one of those people. It’s a livin’ place with its own kind of magic, you know? She might have even been lured there by the forest itself.”</p>
<p>“Preposterous,” McGonagall scoffed, however Madam Pomfrey jumped in with a contemplative look.</p>
<p>“I don’t know about all that,” she said thoughtfully, “but… there could be something to her being in the forest. She sustained injuries in there a few weeks ago which could have had a lasting, traumatic impact on her mental state. As intelligent as she may be, there are none of us who are above the effects of immense mental strain and I suspect that whatever happened in there with her and Miss Chang may have affected her far more than she ever let on.”</p>
<p>“Isn’t that MORE of a reason that she would stay away?” McGonagall pointed out, but the mediwitch shrugged.</p>
<p>“Not necessarily. Sometimes people are drawn back to their sources of trauma. Maybe she felt like she had to go back for some kind of resolution. Maybe it was ‘unfinished business’ or, maybe she just simply wants to understand what happened there. We all carry our trauma with us, and sometimes it draws us back home. Hagrid might be right, in a roundabout way. Perhaps the forest did draw her back in.”</p>
<p>“Well… I mean, even if she did go out into the forest, we can’t just send all of our staff out on a wild goose chase,” McGonagall frowned, “I’m worried for the girl, but we still have responsibilities to the other students and we need to remain and look after the students here. God only knows what the students are up to right now, we’ve left them alone for far too long.”</p>
<p>“They have the prefects,” Sprout pointed out.</p>
<p>“Because the prefects can manage an entire agitated school on their own,” McGonagall replied.</p>
<p>“If she is in the forest,” Remus said slowly, “she could be just about anywhere by now. It could take us hours to search even the closest regions, let alone the deeper depths. We’ll need all the people we can get for this.”</p>
<p>“Like I said we can’t just go charging off-”</p>
<p>“This is a student, one of our students-”</p>
<p>“Why aren’t we getting the Ministry? Surely they-”</p>
<p>“What about the other students? The common rooms are surely chaos by now and where the hell is Severus-”</p>
<p>Hagrid interrupted the sudden outburst of conversation by getting to his feet, which resulted in him sending the large staff table scooting backwards by several feet, along with the staff members that were still sitting in their chairs.</p>
<p>“It’ll only take yer that long if yer searchin’ with your damn eyes,” he said as though the others were being particularly thick, “only a fool searches a forest with his eyes.”</p>
<p>“Hagrid?” Remus asked curiously.</p>
<p>“I’ll help you find ‘er, don’t worry,” Hagrid said with a nod, “there’s far more to tha’ forest than you think.”</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>Hermione paced restlessly within the Gryffindor common room alongside Neville, who admittedly wasn’t feeling any better than she was. Instead of pacing however, he leaned against the wall by the window and stared out onto the grounds with a pensive look. The two had been instructed to return to the common room by Remus while he ‘sorted things out’ with the other staff members and they had begrudgingly complied, only to have been forced to wait without another word, for what had felt like hours.</p>
<p>“It’s been ages,” Hermione huffed with anxiety while she fiddled with her necklace, “come on… what are you guys doing out there? Why isn’t she back yet?”</p>
<p>“Remus will sort it all out, it will be okay,” Neville said, even though he didn’t sound particularly convinced himself.</p>
<p>“Right, because she has such a good track record of adults looking after her,” Hermione huffed, “the girl that was abandoned in a cellar by everyone who was responsible for her? Those same people are now leading the search for her? We should’ve never agreed to simply sit here, doing nothing, when we could be helping! I hate this!”</p>
<p>Neville opened his mouth to argue, but after a moment he simply closed it again; he didn’t really have a disagreement to raise with her, and even if he did, he wasn’t exactly about to voice it.</p>
<p>With no argument coming forth from Neville and no other way to vent her frustration, Hermione was forced to simply sigh loudly and continue pacing under the watchful eyes of the other students in the tower, who observed the two from afar. It hadn’t taken the Gryffindor’s very long to work out that whatever had caused the ‘emergency’ that had sent them all back to their common room clearly had something to do with the absent Skyla, although none had been game enough to speak to Hermione about it after the icy glares that she had sent anyone who even thought about approaching her. The girl was clearly on a knife’s edge and no-one particularly wanted to be the first one to poke the hornet’s nest, given Hermione’s well-known aptitude for magic.</p>
<p>“What can we do?” Neville asked quietly, “there’s gotta be something we can do to help…”</p>
<p>“Well there’s no point just running around searching,” Hermione said with a furrowed brow as she joined him in staring out of the small glass window, “the staff are bound to have far superior methods of searching the castle than anything we could come up with. What we need to do is work out where she has gone, and why, so we can come up with some way to help.”</p>
<p>“Any ideas?”</p>
<p>Hermione stared in silence out the window for a few seconds longer before replying.</p>
<p>“Just one,” she admitted in a quiet voice, “but I don’t even really want to think about it.”</p>
<p>“Go on… let’s hear it,” Neville said, resigning himself to the worst.</p>
<p>Hermione took a few moments to gather her thoughts as she stared out into the distant trees that bordered the grounds.</p>
<p>“You remember the incident with the forest, right?” she asked Neville quietly.</p>
<p>“Of course,” Neville nodded, “how could I forget.”</p>
<p>“Well, Skyla was worried about that, even over the holidays,” she said while biting her lip, “really worried. Something really rattled her in there and it’s haunted her ever since. I think quite literally.”</p>
<p>“What like a ghost?”</p>
<p>Hermione shook her head.</p>
<p>“Skyla knows what the school ghosts are like. No, this was something else.”</p>
<p>“And you think that she was worried enough about it to… do something?”</p>
<p>Hermione paused, reluctant to say what was on her mind.</p>
<p>“I… I think she might be in trouble. Real trouble. I just… I have this feeling in my stomach, she needs help. I know it. She can’t even get her school robes right without me, there’s no way she would have gone off on her own without even talking to me first. Someone… or something… has gotten to her. The fact that they haven’t found her yet tells me that she’s in danger, she’s not the kind to go running off on her own for no reason.”</p>
<p>Neville sighed. </p>
<p>“Look I’m really worried too,” he said in agreement, “but then if she is in as much trouble as you say, what can we do about it that Remus or McGonagall couldn’t?”</p>
<p>“There’s got to be something,” Hermione sighed in frustration, “we can’t just sit here, waiting for the worst to happen. I can’t.”</p>
<p>“What else can we do though? Send her a postcard?” Neville said with a dry laugh.</p>
<p>Hermione rolled her eyes at first, however she suddenly stopped and stared at him as though she were looking at an entirely new person. Her eyes burned into his skull and he began to fidget uncomfortably under her intense gaze.</p>
<p>“Sorry, just a bad joke,” He added apologetically.</p>
<p>“No…” Hermione said slowly, “… no you’re right… that’s exactly what we can do…”</p>
<p>“Huh?”</p>
<p>“That’s it! Neville you’re a genius!”</p>
<p>Neville was baffled, however Hermione didn’t explain her thoughts any further as she suddenly took off in a sprint, unapologetically barging straight through a group of annoyed second year girls on her way up to the girls’ dormitories. </p>
<p>She returned only a few moments later holding in her hands Skyla’s backpack, of all things.</p>
<p>“What’s that for?” he asked curiously.</p>
<p>“Sending a postcard,” Hermione said with renewed vigor, “now come on!”</p>
<p>Neville could do little more than shrug and allow Hermione to drag him from the common room at a run.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>“For Salazar.”</p>
<p>“For mum and dad.”</p>
<p>To their credit, Skyla had to admit that the veteran Death Eaters recovered surprisingly quickly from their initial shock. Both the arrival of the deadly mythical creature and the revelation of Skyla’s unexpected magical prowess had shaken them at first, however under Voldemort’s furious barking orders they had quickly reorganised themselves into a solid line-formation, with their eyes held low and their wands raised high. It was clear that the group had seen many battles over the years, despite the fact that they may have been a little rusty. Most creatures would have been felled quickly and efficiently by the merciless and powerful group.</p>
<p>The basilisk was not ‘most creatures’ however.</p>
<p>Their neat little formation was quickly shattered as the deadly basilisk reared itself up to its full, rather impressive height and launched forward with a powerful strike. The unexpected speed of the strike, combined with the fact that they could not look directly at the head, almost caught them completely off guard and even Voldemort only barely managed to throw up a shield of pure magic in time with a rising flick of his wrist. Skyla had to begrudgingly respect the man’s immense speed and power, however even that was not enough to fully contain the deadly strike of the legendary creature. Despite the fact that his shield had ultimately blocked the initial blow and sent the basilisk reeling backwards, the resulting magical shockwave from the impact sent both himself, and his Death Eaters, flying in all directions and there was a momentary pause while everyone attempted to scramble to their feet once again after having been scattered by the blast.</p>
<p>Skyla barely managed to hold on to her position on the basilisk as she was knocked back from the force, but she dug her heels and managed to grab a tight hold onto some of the large, jagged scales that lined his back. The great serpent recovered quite quickly and hissed angrily towards his foes, however the Death Eaters were not as quick to return to a fighting stance as they were still scrambling to return to their positions.</p>
<p>Knowing that she had the upper hand for the moment, Skyla quickly positioned herself higher up the basilisk and began to rain her wandless magic down upon the disorganised Death Eaters from above with powerful blasts of pure, blue energy. The powerful bombardment of magic only served to increase the chaos among the Death Eaters as she managed to knock a few off their feet once again, sending them sprawling onto their backs with the wind knocked clean out of them.</p>
<p>Despite her initial success, she quickly realised that her offensive arsenal was seriously lacking as the Death Eaters, though woozy from the battering, all managed to eventually scramble to their feet again. Voldemort was already back on his feet and observing the scene with a feral snarl on his face, while his Death Eaters attempted to pull themselves back into position.</p>
<p>Skyla lamented under her breath the fact that Voldemort hadn’t actually revealed much of his combat magic to her in his memories, and she was forced to rely on her very limited arsenal of offensive spells. None of her hits were lethal, and the Death Eaters quickly began to realise that fact and soon began to lose some of the fear of her strange magic. </p>
<p>Still, the physical battering that she was handing out was enough to keep them occupied, even if it wasn’t keeping any down permanently. She lost track of their faces as the exertion of the constant casting was occupying almost all of her focus, however she did notice that Snape had not reemerged from beyond the trees where she had blasted him previously. She wasn’t sure whether he was dead, knocked out or had simply run away, and she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know the answer to that. </p>
<p>At least it was one less Death Eater to fight.</p>
<p>While she was busy hurling her magic around from above, the basilisk spotted a golden opportunity merely a few meters front of him; Avery had been knocked down once again by Skyla and he seemed to be having difficult in returning to his feet after being winded. He had opted instead to try and crawl away towards his group once again, however he was still well within striking range for the basilisk and unlike Skyla, the serpent definitely knew how to put a human for good.</p>
<p>“Woa-wha-!”</p>
<p>He reared back to eagerly deliver the final fatal blow and the sudden movement caught Skyla off guard. She was forced to stop her casting and wildly grab onto his scales as he reared and let out an angry, victorious hiss towards a terrified Avery.</p>
<p>“AVADA KEDAVRA!”</p>
<p>Skyla felt, long before she ever saw with her eyes, the powerful black magic flying through the air towards them and the now far-too-familiar bolt of bright green energy, that had killed both of her parents, struck the basilisk directly in the side. Skyla’s eyes widened at the sight and the basilisk froze, letting out a strange hissing sound.</p>
<p>It took Skyla a few seconds to realise what it was.</p>
<p>“Sa-Sa-Sa!”</p>
<p>The serpent let out multiple amused hisses as he turned back to look at Voldemort, who immediately lowered his gaze to the basilisks body with his teeth gritted in anger.</p>
<p>“No spell shall penetrate my scales,” the basilisk announced proudly, “far greater wizards than you have tried, and all have failed to break my resistance to magic.”</p>
<p>Voldemort snarled with rage, before suddenly pointing his wand towards the ground and, to Skyla’s great surprise, proceeded to transfigure a small stick from the undergrowth into a fully grown rooster.</p>
<p>“Resist this,” Voldemort sneered.</p>
<p>Skyla stared at the rooster.</p>
<p>“It… it’s a chicken?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, “have you gone mad?”</p>
<p>“The cry of the rooster is fatal to the basilisk,” Voldemort smirked victoriously as the rooster began to lift its head back and opened its mouth, letting out the familiar sound of the dawn-breaking cry.</p>
<p>The basilisk, Skyla, Voldemort and his Death Eaters all stood within the clearing and stared at the rooster for a moment while it shouted proudly for all to hear. Eventually Voldemort looked back up triumphantly towards the basilisk, however his smile quickly faltered.</p>
<p>“Are… are you… sure?” Skyla asked him slowly, “are you dead, friend?”</p>
<p>“I appear to still be among the living,” the snake commented with amusement, “I have heard some truly ridiculous theories over the years regarding my apparent ‘weaknesses’, but this? Do humans actually believe this rubbish? Me? Salazar’s own, felled by a chicken?”</p>
<p>Skyla laughed along with the snake, cackling at the absurdity of it all. Voldemort was staring at the rooster with pure murder in his eyes, however for some reason, of all the things that had happened to her in the magical world, this was simply too much for her.</p>
<p>“A chicken!” She laughed with a tear in her eye while the basilisk snickered along, “Lord Voldemort’s secret weapon… a chicken! I didn’t know you were the leader of the Chicken Eaters!”</p>
<p>“YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” Voldemort screamed in fury as he raised his wand towards them.</p>
<p>The rooster, wisely sensing the imminent danger, began to run away as fast as his little legs would carry him and the sight only made Skyla laugh further, even as the sights and sounds of battle began to break out in the clearing around her once again, drawing her attention back to the fight.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>On the other side of the forest, far away from the chaotic battle that was rampaging within, Hagrid and Remus stood side-by-side as they stared into the dense and intimidating treeline. Remus knew all too well from his own time at school that it didn’t take long for the forest to quickly become a disorienting jungle and it was very easy to get lost, or to encounter any number of the unpleasant creatures that lurked within.</p>
<p>“Alright Hagrid,” Remus said grimly, “let’s do this. Remember that if you’re right, she could be in serious danger, as could we. We need to find her, and get out immediately.”</p>
<p>Hagrid nodded in response while loading a long, heavy bolt into his oversized crossbow. He didn’t need Remus to warn him of the dangers; if anyone knew of the creatures that lurked within the forest it was him, having helped many of those dangers move in himself. </p>
<p>Fang, Hagrid’s extremely large Great Dane, trotted dutifully up to his side with a wide yawn and a shake of his thick black fur, waking himself up for the upcoming exploration of the forest. Hagrid rarely entered the forest without him; aside from his excellent nose for trouble and an ability to track that was second to none, he provided a certain calming reassurance with his presence, even if he was rather easily intimidated by loud noises or sudden movements. Like Hagrid he was a gentle giant, but that was still enough to make most predators in the forest think twice.</p>
<p>Fang led the way into the forest with Hagrid walking a few paces behind him, and Remus bringing up the rear of their little rescue party. Remus’ eyes were constantly scanning the area for any signs or hints of Skyla’s presence; he checked for footprints on the ground, ripped or torn fabric on the lower branches, smells or sounds that might indicate her presence, light in the distance, anything at all, yet he found nothing as they went.</p>
<p>After a few minutes of walking the darkness began to swallow them, and any sign of their original entrance point had disappeared among the tall, ancient trees that surrounded them in a seemingly endless manner.</p>
<p>“What’s the plan, Hagrid?”</p>
<p>Surprisingly, Hagrid didn’t seem to be inspecting the environment for clues at all. Instead, he and Fang were striding rather purposefully through the dark undergrowth, though Remus didn’t have the slightest clue what their destination could have been.</p>
<p>“You’ll see,” was all Hagrid replied vaguely.</p>
<p>“...”</p>
<p>Remus sighed, but he had no choice other than to trust Hagrid in this matter. If anyone knew the forest and its secrets it was the veteran groundskeeper, but that still didn’t stop Remus from scanning every single tree as he walked past for signs of snapped twigs or torn clothing regardless.</p>
<p>They marched in silence for ten more agonisingly long minutes and the darkness in the forest seemed to be growing heavier and more oppressive with every step. The sky itself had begun to fade and eventually the the ethereal darkness of the forest had become so thick that they could only see a few meters in front of them. The canopy above was so dense that only the smallest traces of light managed to trickle through the foliage and any of the remaining natural light that did manage to slip through gave the forest a strange, jaded aura that felt very oppressive and extremely claustrophobic, as if they were battering their way through a very overgrown jungle in the middle of the night. The deeper that they proceeded into the forest, the more difficult it became to keep track of the time and if not for the fact that he knew in the back of his mind that it was still the middle of the day on the outside, Remus would have easily been convinced that it was actually the middle of the night.</p>
<p>None of which boded well for Skyla; if the girl was in here, then she was well and truly lost by this point. They were starting to reach depths in the forest that even Remus had never ventured into, and if Skyla had truly been gone for hours, she could be beyond even Hagrid’s experienced reach.</p>
<p>“We’re getting close,” Hagrid eventually said in a barely more than a murmur, breaking Remus from his thoughts as they entered a strange clearing. Several tall trees had fallen over and the area looked particularly overgrown and uninhabited, even by the forest’s usual standards.</p>
<p>“To what?” Remus whispered back.</p>
<p>Hagrid didn’t reply verbally and instead slowed down, until they had stopped altogether. Fang was no longer out in front and was instead sticking closely to Hagrid’s side.</p>
<p>“Hagrid…? What is it?”</p>
<p>Hagrid simply nodded with his head to a spot that was just beside Remus, who slowly turned around.</p>
<p>“Oh Hagrid… you’ve got to be kidding me.”</p>
<p>Remus couldn’t help but ogle at the strange sight.</p>
<p>“And here I thought I was the most dangerous thing in this forest.”</p>
<p>“Everyone thinks they are the alpha in here, until they meet it,” Hagrid said grimly, “I don’ reckon even a werewolf could survive that.”</p>
<p>“I hope I don’t have to find out.”</p>
<p>Remus could do little more than shake his head in disbelief at what he was seeing, and hope that Hagrid had a much better plan in mind than what he suspected was the case.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>“AVADA KEDAVRA!”</p>
<p>“AVADA KEDAVRA!”</p>
<p>“AVADA KEDAVRA!”</p>
<p>Skyla made herself as small as she possibly could as she crouched behind the basilisk’s large head, clinging to his scales while taking cover from the overwhelming bombardment of killing curses that Voldemort was throwing in her direction, powered by his unending rage and frustration. Having decided that fighting the basilisk directly was a lost cause (his resistance to magic had long since proved to be no idle boast) Voldemort had decided instead, rather cleverly, to keep the beast pinned in place with a relentless barrage of deadly curses aimed loosely in the direction of Skyla. While he may have been completely unaffected, Skyla had no such resistance and when the Death Eaters realised that the serpent seemed just as intent on protecting Skyla as he was on murdering them, they too had quickly joined in. Their curses were a wild an inaccurate mess due to being unable to look up and aim, but the sheer volume was causing enough danger to Skyla that she was no longer able to peek out and return her own spells back. The basilisk, unwilling to strike out due to the risk of exposing Skyla, had been forced into a defensive position and continued to be pressured back towards the treeline, hissing angrily as he moved. Aside from his deadly glare however, he could little more than force them to keep their distance, lest he expose Skyla with his own movements.</p>
<p>Skyla had to admit that the Death Eaters were clearly feared for a reason, and she was starting to understand why they had been such a problem in the previous war. They had initially been rattled by the revelation of her magic and the arrival of the basilisk, however it hadn’t taken them long to shake off the cobwebs and became a deadly force once again, especially under the leadership of a certain veteran hunter who began to take control of the group.</p>
<p>“Do not look at his eyes!” Macnair shouted as he took over from the now busy Voldemort, directing his allies around the clearing with clear commands, “aim for the girl! Keep up the pressure! If not the girl, aim for the underbelly! The tail! All beasts have a weak spot somewhere, we just need to find it! Keep your distance from its head, watch that speed! Encircle the beast from afar; it’s protecting her! Use that to your advantage! Hit the flanks!”</p>
<p>Skyla was doing her best to contribute to the fight and occasionally managed to slip a few blasts of magic out towards their enemies from around the basilisk’s head, however none were connecting and served as little more than a momentary distraction. The basilisk did its best to back away and keep Skyla out of the firing line as the Death Eaters slowly moved forward, however he eventually reached the treeline and with his back to the dense forest, he count not continue any further, since it was rather hard for a snake to reverse in the first place, let alone with a human target sitting on his back.</p>
<p>“Damn cowards!” he hissed with anger as he glared angrily around at the advancing Death Eaters who avoided his eyes, “I could kill them all in a heartbeat-”</p>
<p>“-if not for me,” Skyla said regretfully, “I know.”</p>
<p>“He is the truly dangerous one,” the serpent hissed, indicating towards Voldemort, “his spells are the most accurate and the most powerful. If he is allowed to aim at you, I fear little heiress that you may not survive.”</p>
<p>“You’re right about that…”</p>
<p>Skyla tried to ignore the barrage of deadly spells that was bombarding the area around her with small pops and unsettling crackles as the magic fizzled in the air. She was having difficulty focusing on anything other than the pounding of her heart in her chest, and the ringing of her ears. She knew that all it would take was for one of those spells to touch her and that would be the end of her, the end of everything, and it was all she could think about.</p>
<p>She knew that the clock was ticking; it would be only a few more moments until they had Death Eaters attacking from both sides.</p>
<p>She let out a soft sigh as she turned around, raising her hand out in defiance. The least she could do was try to take down the first Death Eater that rounded the corner, and then after that, it would be a matter of fate, and a matter of luck.</p>
<p>Just as the snarling, scarred face of Macnair came into view from the side and she readied herself for one final stand-</p>
<p>She stopped. As did he.</p>
<p>“What… what is…?”</p>
<p>A strange sound could be heard coming from within the trees to their side. It had started as a faint grumble and had initially been ignored, yet it quickly grew into a thunderous pattering that sounded like battering rain within a devastating storm. Even Voldemort paused his bombardment in confusion at the noise and it was like nothing Skyla had ever heard before; a dense, heavy pattering and rustling through the undergrowth that was accompanied by loud clicking noises and a few high pitched screeches that announced the arrival of-</p>
<p>“Oh my god…!” Skyla exclaimed in shock.</p>
<p>“What the fuck is this!?” Macnair swore with disgust and horror.</p>
<p>From the treeline to her left burst forth a small army of very large, and very angry, spiders. Not just any old spiders; the spiders all varied in size however they were all enormous; some were the size of large boars while others were the size of a small horse. All of them were utterly terrifying to behold as they scurried forth with their gigantic, eight hairy legs scuttling as fast as they could. Even Voldemort took a few steps back at the sight of the swarm as they clicked their pincers angrily and a few let loose several bone-chilling screeches in the direction of him and his followers.</p>
<p>“It can’t be… but how?” Voldemort said slowly in both disbelief and denial, “there is a basilisk right there! The-the acromantula they-”</p>
<p>“FOR HAGRID!”</p>
<p>Skyla simply sat and watched in awe as a truly monstrous spider, if it could even still be called that, moved towards the clearing with a host of additional giant spiders in tow. He appeared to be some kind of spider-king due to his immense size and he spoke in English, which Skyla suspected wasn’t common for spiders (not that she had ever spoken to one before, admittedly).</p>
<p>She spotted the large frame of Hagrid running alongside the giant spider-king and she stared at him in confusion, eventually spotting Remus and Fang following up a few meters behind him (though it was hard to tell which of them seemed more worried about the giant spider-king next to them). For some reason, not that she was ungrateful, the spiders swarmed straight past her and even seemed to be giving her a wide berth on their way towards the rapidly retreating Death Eaters, ignoring her entirely.</p>
<p>“Hagrid?” she called out in surprise, “Remus? What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>“Wha- us?” Hagrid replied with a pant as he got closer, “what the hell are you doing here? What’s wrong with your eyes? And what are you riding on? He’s a beautiful creature though inn’he-”</p>
<p>“Hagrid! We’re here to save the girl, not start a fucking petting zoo!” Remus panted as he arrived a few steps behind Hagrid, clutching at his side. </p>
<p>“Come on, let’s get you down from there,” Hagrid began, but Skyla shook her head rapidly.</p>
<p>“No! Look, Voldemort, he’s back!” Skyla said quickly, “he’s returned!”</p>
<p>“We know,” Remus said darkly, “Aragog warned us what was happening here. That’s why we have to go, right now!”</p>
<p>Skyla shook her head.</p>
<p>“I’m not running, we have the upper hand with this!”</p>
<p>She turned her head away and looked back as flashes of green light illuminated the dark clearing like gunfire in the night. The Death Eaters had been forced to abandon any idea of an offensive push at the arrival of the spiders and had instead retreated back into a hastily formed line, blasting away at every spider that approached them. The bodies of countless spiders were starting to pile up in front of them, however the Death Eaters were still being pushed back, slowly but surely. The basilisk was still doing his best to send his deathly glare into the clearing, however the Death Eaters were so distracted by the arrival of the terrifying spiders that they had almost forgotten about the existence of the basilisk at all.</p>
<p>The flashes of spellfire and loud, high pitched bangs and crackles proved to be too much for Fang, who let out a whimper and ran back towards the trees.</p>
<p>“Hagrid! Fang, he-” Remus began, but Hagrid just waved his hand dismissively. Fang knew his way home, of that Hagrid was sure.</p>
<p>“This is just the chance we needed,” Skyla said vindictively as she watched the scene, getting Hagrid and Remus’ attention, “with this we can attack!”</p>
<p>“Attack?” Remus exclaimed indignantly, “have you lost your damn mind-”</p>
<p>“Come on!” Skyla said to the basilisk, “lets get in there while we have an opening!”</p>
<p>“Thought you’d never ask,” he simply replied.</p>
<p>“Skyla wait! What are you-”</p>
<p>Skyla ignored the sudden, confused cries of both Hagrid and Remus in the background behind her and instead she charged forth with her basilisk into the clearing, scattering the spiders in front of them who bizarrely scrambled to get out of the way. They almost seemed more concerned about the basilisk’s presence than the wands of the Death Eaters, though they still continued to swarm towards them regardless. A clear path opened through the middle of the swarm and the basilisk lunged forward, taking the opportunity to finally strike at his foes.</p>
<p>Skyla grinned savagely as the basilisk charged, however her heart dropped and she knew that she had made a mistake as soon as she made eye contact with Voldemort, who regarded her with a victorious smirk, ignoring the spiders completely while his Death Eaters held the line.</p>
<p>He had been expecting this.</p>
<p>The basilisk’s extremely powerful jaws snapped closed over an unsuspecting Nott’s head, ending him in one fatal strike as his skull was crushed with a horrible crunching noise. The basilisk hissed triumphantly as he recovered from the strike and ripped the remains of the head away from the man’s body with satisfaction, however Skyla did not get to see the gruesome act, nor the panicked scrambling of the remaining Death Eaters as they turned and finally ran. With the sight of the horrific, bloody murder, and the absent hole in their line now being swarmed by angry spiders, they abandoned the fight completely, disappearing one by one with loud pops that left only black smoke behind in their wake as they ran.</p>
<p>While they ran however, instead of pursuing on the Basilisk, Skyla was instead spinning through the air, courtesy of Voldemort’s rapid blasting curse that had ejected her from her safe position on the basilisk when she had been exposed during the strike. Skyla hadn’t expected him to willingly let one of his people die, however she had underestimated the man’s ruthlessness and as a result she hit the ground hard, all of the air rushing out of her body at once, leaving her stunned. The basilisk had not yet noticed her predicament as both he, and the spiders, were too busy hunting for any remains of the Death Eaters within the smoke, unsure if their foes still lingered under the cover of the wispy black cloud that remained.</p>
<p>As Skyla recovered slightly and looked up, she realised that she was staring down the tip of Voldemort’s wand as it rematerialised into view. He had used his power of invisibility to slip straight by the swarming spiders, who had continued off into the forest in search of their fleeing prey.</p>
<p>With the spider swarm having passed through and the basilisk still distracted on the far side, hunting for his foes, she realised that she couldn’t dodge the spell this time and that this was it.</p>
<p>She was going to die.</p>
<p>Voldemort gave her one final victorious smirk as he began to cast, looking directly into her wide, blue eyes.</p>
<p>“AVADA KEDAV-”</p>
<p>A loud whistling sound echoed overhead and something flew directly above Skyla that caused Voldemort to suddenly pull away with a snarl of anger.</p>
<p>She turned back to see an equally furious looking Hagrid loading another bolt into his oversized crossbow that was still aimed towards the Dark Lord.</p>
<p>“You ain’t harmin’ her!” Hagrid said angrily, “ain’t nobody harmin’ her!”</p>
<p>He fired off another arrow that Voldemort deflected, however he was forced to take a few steps back as Hagrid continued to load and fire bolts in his direction.</p>
<p>Voldemort turned his wand towards him with a vicious snarl and flicked a spell towards him, which caused Skyla’s heart to drop in her chest. She didn’t know what the spell was, but she was unable to do anything about it from her position and she knew that Hagrid wasn’t the most magically adept person.</p>
<p>Just as the spell reached him, Remus stepped forward and flicked his own wand, deflecting the spell off to the side at the last moment. Hagrid used the opportunity to load his crossbow once again, while Voldemort snarled and raised his wand with murderous intent, until Skyla managed to scramble to her feet and step into the middle.</p>
<p>“Stop!” she shouted, “stop it! Your fight is with me.”</p>
<p>“Get back Skyla!” Remus called, “he’s dangerous, you don’t know what he’s capable of!”</p>
<p>Skyla slowly turned back to Remus with renewed fire in her eyes as they once again burned their bright blue, causing him to fall silent in astonishment. She allowed her inner core to flow outwards and she reveled in the feeling, channeling as much of her own energy into herself as she could with a deep breath.</p>
<p>“I know what he is capable of,” she said quietly in a voice that still carried through the clearing, “but you don’t know what I’m capable of.”</p>
<p>Remus and Hagrid both stared into her burning eyes for a moment, until she turned away and faced her adversary once again.</p>
<p>“You really believe that you can best me in-” Voldemort began with sneer, however his sentence was interrupted rather dramatically as he was suddenly swamped from behind by a wave of angry spiders, who had finally realised that their foes were not out in the forest anymore and returned to the fray.</p>
<p>Skyla thought for a moment that she may have truly lucked out and that it might be the end of the madman, however it was not to be and she had only a moment’s warning as she felt the sudden burst of magic coming forth from within him as he was dragged to the ground. He lost his wand in the fall and had decided that it was time to reveal his full hand, in a very literal sense.</p>
<p>A burning wave of unnatural flames burst forth from Voldemort’s outstretched palms as he thrust them upwards and the blast expanded out from his body, roasting the spiders near him to a crisp in mere seconds. Remus and Hagrid both stared at the sudden appearance of the flames in shock, especially as the burning wave began to expand outwards towards them with a furious vengeance, however Skyla quickly moved into position in front of them and raised her hand towards the rapidly approaching flames.</p>
<p>“You can’t block that,” Remus muttered with realisation, “that’s fiendfyre. We’re all dead.”</p>
<p>A fleeting memory brushed through Skyla’s mind at his words. It was a memory of Voldemort while he was still in the muggle orphanage, and he was staring into the sight of large, hypnotic, orange flames that burned brightly in front of him. He had been protected from the heat with an impenetrable shield of magic, and then he had used that very same magic to extinguish the flames himself. It was beautiful magic and advanced far beyond her understanding, but she didn’t quite know why she knew that memory or why it was that she remembered it now.</p>
<p>Until she realised as the flames approached her and she stared into the hypnotic orange that it wasn’t his memory that she had been seeing.</p>
<p>It was her own, from what felt like a lifetime ago.</p>
<p>She knew what she had to do, because she had already done it before. She just hadn’t understood it at the time.</p>
<p>With an outward thrust of her hand, she closed her eyes and allowed her energy to pour forth. She remembering the shimmering, blue aura that had once surrounded her so lovingly, protected her against the hammering fists of Beatrice and shortly after, the dangerously hot flames in the fire that had burned everything she had ever loved. Nothing had been able to pass through it, not even her; it had protected against everything, even herself. She tried to remember what it had looked like… what it had felt like…</p>
<p>She opened her eyes just as the flames were about to reach her and her familiar bright blue orb burst forth from her hand. Unlike her previous attempts however, where it had lingered only to provide her with enough light to read, this time the orb did not patiently hover and instead expanded outward, forming a small bubble in an area around her, providing a dome of protection from the coming heat that collided with the barrier and washed over them like a flood of searing rage and destruction.</p>
<p>Hagrid and Remus stood in stunned silence as Skyla shielded them with her magic, and yet, that hadn’t been the most impressive thing that they had witnessed. When the ferocious flames has passed by, Skyla let out short grunt of exertion as she opened her hand outward once again and sent the protective dome exploding back outwards with a gush of astonishingly powerful wind that both knocked Voldemort off his feet, and caused enough outward pressure that even the cursed flames of Voldemort were snuffed out around them as they were flooded with enough oxygen and air pressure to extinguish the flames, halting their progression through the forest.</p>
<p>Remus and Hagrid could do little more than stare at Skyla.</p>
<p>“My light in the dark,” she simply whispered, “my star in the sky.”</p>
<p>Skyla let her hand fall as she collapsed down onto her knees. She had pushed herself beyond her limits already, and her final burst of magic had proven too much for her body to handle. </p>
<p>Across from her, Voldemort was slowly getting to his feet. He had protected himself from her powerful blast at the last moment, though he had still been knocked backwards by the force.</p>
<p>As much as she hated him, she couldn’t help but admit that the man was simply something else when it came to magic. Even her best did little to deter the man and watching the powerful wizard arise from the ashes of the burned clearing around him left a begrudging sense of awe in Skyla.</p>
<p>He truly was the greatest dark lord of all time.</p>
<p>“What… the hell… was that…”</p>
<p>Skyla turned around and saw that Hagrid and Remus still stood behind her, standing on the only patch of green grass that remained and staring at her with wide fearful eyes. They looked at her as though they had never seen her before, and perhaps in a sense, they hadn’t until now.</p>
<p>She was reminded by their presence that more than her own life hung in the balance.</p>
<p>“Thanks for coming,” Skyla said quietly, “but it’s over now. You need to go.”</p>
<p>“What? We ain’t-”</p>
<p>“You need to go and warn people,” Skyla said sadly, “if we all die here then no-one will know he’s out here.”</p>
<p>“Skyla, we-”</p>
<p>“Listen!” Skyla insisted, “this is about more than us! Voldemort, he-”</p>
<p>“No, you listen!” Remus hissed suddenly, catching Skyla by surprise, “I’m not leaving you again. If the last thing I can do for James and Lily is to die for their daughter, then that’s what the fuck I’ll do! I don’t care if it’s the Dark Lord, spiders, basilisks, dragons or whatever else it is we have to fight, I’m not leaving you.”</p>
<p>Skyla turned around to stare at Remus as he spoke with a fire and passion that she had never heard from him before. He stood with his wand raised and a fixed look of determination on his face with righteous fury in his eyes.</p>
<p>“I ain’t runnin’ away either,” Hagrid added, “yer mum and dad fought to the end, and I reckon’ I’ll do the same.”</p>
<p>Skyla closed her eyes as she painfully dragged herself up off her knees and to her feet, staggering slightly as she did so. Voldemort observed the group from across the clearing, however his wand hung loosely at his side, as did Skyla’s hands. She was no threat anymore and they both knew it, but this had become about far more than just survival for Skyla. </p>
<p>She realised that there was more to life than simply living, a lesson that she had learned from the memory her parents.</p>
<p>She sighed and began to walk slowly towards Voldemort, who surprisingly, didn’t cast a spell or make any movement at all.</p>
<p>“Alright, let’s do this then,” Skyla said grimly, “one last time.”</p>
<p>She was halted in her tracks by Voldemort’s surprising words.</p>
<p>“We need not fight.”</p>
<p>“You… you what?”</p>
<p>“I have realised something,” Voldemort said in a quiet voice while staring at Skyla with a strange expression, “if there were any, it would have to be you. How could it not be?”</p>
<p>“What are you going on about now?” Skyla exhaled with resignation.</p>
<p>“You have immense power within you, I see it now. You display a magic that only few will ever attain in their lives, and you have achieved it at such a young age. With my help, naturally, but still… it would be such a waste to end you.”</p>
<p>He stared at her with growing interest.</p>
<p>“I thought that you were merely imitating my power, yet I was wrong. This is a blessing, a gift, an opportunity that we have been presented with.”</p>
<p>“You have got to be joking,” Skyla said with astonishment.</p>
<p>“Not in the slightest,” Voldemort said seriously, “think about this. Think of what we could achieve together. My vision could come to pass with your aid; a world in which we no longer have to hide, a world in which our kind are free from the imprisonment of our existence! You may just be the very thing needed to spur our kind into a new era. You will have power and influence, and I will guide you from the shadows, together we could bring about a new golden age for witches and wizards everywhere!”</p>
<p>“You have gone completely around the twist,” Skyla said with a bemused look, “if you think I would ever join you.”</p>
<p>“You hate because you fear,” Voldemort said dismissively, “and you fear because you do not understand.”</p>
<p>“Well then make me,” Skyla said thoughtfully after a moment, as she analysed the scene in front of her and took a few steps forward, “what is that you think we would do?”</p>
<p>“Change the world!” he said as though it were obvious, “prevent the coming war! Prevent the pain and suffering that will come to our world if we do not stop it! Prevent the enslavement of our kind and the oppression of our brothers and sisters!”</p>
<p>“You really see yourself as a hero, don’t you?” Skyla said curiously as she stepped forward again, “you really do believe in all of this?”</p>
<p>“I do what must be done,” Voldemort said insistently, “to protect our people, even from themselves! Even when they will not lift a finger in their own defense! We hide from the muggles like rats in the corners of the world, we bow to their ways, our areas grow smaller while they expand and conquer the world and our ways of life grow ever more restricted in fear of being discovered. Yet, the muggles have only grown stronger while we cower in our fear; they horde their nuclear weapons and their computers and their technology while we hide out of sight and hope the world has enough room for the both of us. Their population expands ever onwards while our own shrinks and declines. They-”</p>
<p>“So you think we should kill them?” Skyla asked, finally coming to a stop in front of Voldemort.</p>
<p>“Sometimes you must lose a finger to save the hand,” Voldemort said evenly, “or remove a limb to save a life. Sometimes some must die, so that others can live.”</p>
<p>“I agree with you,” Skyla said quietly, “I truly do.”</p>
<p>“So you see? We make these sacrifices for the good of magical people everywhere! Together we can save our people!”</p>
<p>“I agree,” Skyla nodded, “our fates lie together.”</p>
<p>Remus and Hagrid both stared in shock as Skyla suddenly threw herself forward and embraced Voldemort in a strange, tight hug.</p>
<p>“Do it!” she shouted loudly, “do it now! DO IT!”</p>
<p>It took Voldemort a few seconds to realise what was happening, but by the time he did, it was far too late. He caught a glimpse of a looming shadow above him, however with his arms pinned by his sides he was unable to bring up his wand or his hand in time. Though he broke free from Skyla’s grasp, it was too late and he let out a bloodcurdling scream as two long, deadly fangs pierced through his stomach from behind, courtesy of the basilisk who had been steadily creeping up on him the entire time.</p>
<p>The basilisk held him in place for a moment and Hagrid and Remus both let out victorious cheers at the sight, until he eventually withdrew and both Voldemort and Skyla dropped to the ground together, causing Hagrid and Remus to both suddenly fall silent.</p>
<p>“D-do you think he-he’s poisonous?” Skyla asked Voldemort quietly with a dark laugh as they lay together on the cold grass.</p>
<p>She already knew the answer; a feeling of sudden paralysis was spreading throughout her central nervous system from the two sharp wounds that had penetrated her own chest. The basilisk’s fangs had penetrated straight through Voldemort’s abdomen and through to her shoulders, although Skyla had known it was coming. She had been planning on it from the moment she stepped forward.</p>
<p>It still didn’t make it hurt any less.</p>
<p>“Y-you fool,” Voldemort gasped in shock as his own body began to react violently, “it is d-deadly. You’ve killed us both.”</p>
<p>“I th-thought legends never die,” Skyla forced out, “maybe you-you aren’t a legend after all…”</p>
<p>He fell silent and didn’t reply to her quip, but Skyla no longer cared. Not about his words, not about the fight, not about him anymore. It was over.</p>
<p>She managed to roll over onto her back and stare up at the charred treetops above her, however she found that she was quickly unable to move any further after that. She realised that she could see the basilisk moving out of the corner of her eye, until it approached her and leaned over her head. She stared into the giant yellow orbs that looked down at her with a sense of sadness.</p>
<p>“I am sorry, little heiress,” the snake lamented, “you commanded and thus, I must obey.”</p>
<p>Skyla could say nothing as none of her muscles would co-operate any longer.</p>
<p>“The paralysis comes first,” the snake explained gently as it hovered over Skyla’s face, “and then death is quick. It should stop hurting very soon, little one. The pain will fade quickly, and then so soon shall you.”</p>
<p>She realised that he was right; the pain was already fading, although she had begun to feel very cold. </p>
<p>Very cold, and very sleepy.</p>
<p>“Go in peace, little one. Go to your ancestors and tell them of your tale. Salazar awaits you with open arms. We will meet again, in the place where we gather across time to tell our tales for an eternity. We will meet again, in the place where legends never die.”</p>
<p>The basilisk leaned down to nuzzle her cheek slightly, before giving her one final sad look and turning to depart.</p>
<p>“Skyla! Skyla…! … Sky…. la….”</p>
<p>The last thing that she heard was the shouting voices of Hagrid and Remus as they came running over, before they too faded into the distance and become nothing, a mere echo in the dark.</p>
<p>As was she.</p>
<p>***************</p>
<p>“I’m so proud of you, honey.”</p>
<p>“My poor baby, I am so sorry for what you had to go through…”</p>
<p>Skyla slowly opened her eyes and squinted against a blinding, bright white light that took her several moments to adjust to. Eventually, she managed to squint for long enough to realise that she was standing in a place that seemed to resemble The Leaky Cauldron, although it was different.</p>
<p>It was cleaner.</p>
<p>She didn’t know how she got here, but it was certainly a sight for sore eyes. She could definitely go for one of Sam’s signature meals right about now, even though she wasn’t really hungry. Or thirsty. Or really breathing, for that matter.</p>
<p>She looked around for Tom or Sam, but the entire place was empty except for-</p>
<p>“Wait… Mum…!? Dad…!?”</p>
<p>She stared in shock at the sight of her parents who had been standing behind her all along.</p>
<p>“Yes, honey, it’s us,” her mother said with a sad smile, “we’ve come to take you home.”</p>
<p>“Come here my beautiful girl,” James sighed, holding his arms out for Skyla who didn’t hesitate at all before running into them and embracing him, with Lily joining them a moment later, sniffling a little as she did so.</p>
<p>Skyla let a few tears roll down her own cheeks as she embraced them both tightly and felt their warmth. This was it; she was dead, but she didn’t mind. She finally got to see them, to be with them, to finally be their little girl for the rest of time. She could finally let go of the cold, dark world she left behind and move on to be with her family, as it should be.</p>
<p>“It was only a minute or two ago,” James said quietly as they hugged, “right here.”</p>
<p>“What was?” Skyla asked, “my… my death? I-I don’t really mind, to be honest… I just wanted to be with you both…”</p>
<p>“I couldn’t believe it,” Lily whispered, “a basilisk of all things. And Voldemort, the real Voldemort, had been resurrected, I don’t know how but-”</p>
<p>“It’s okay, he’s dead,” Skyla replied quietly, “he can’t hurt anyone now.”</p>
<p>“She killed him with the basilisk,” James said, “got herself stabbed in the process.”</p>
<p>“Not my finest moment,” Skyla admitted with a small laugh, “but let’s forget about all of that now. It’s all history, it’s all over. We’re here now, together. I just want to be with you forever.”</p>
<p>“I think she’s stirring,” Lily said, “she just twitched. Look she’s coming around. You were right.”</p>
<p>“What are you talking about?” Skyla asked in confusion.</p>
<p>“I think it’s working!” James said, “she’s going to make it!”</p>
<p>Skyla pulled away in horror as she realised that her parents were starting to fade before her very eyes.</p>
<p>“No, no… please don’t go, please… don’t go, no don’t go-”</p>
<p>“Here, she’s wakin’ up,” James said as he slowly faded from view, “you were right. Boy are we lucky that you got here in time-”</p>
<p>“NO!” Skyla screamed as her parents began to drift away into nothingness, “NO! COME BACK- DON’T LEAVE ME! NO! NO PLEASE-”</p>
<p>Skyla’s eyes sprung open and she drew a deep, rasping breath while flailing wildly at the air around her. A large pair of strong hands grabbed her and pinned her to the ground as her pupils began to contract and earthly light began to once again enter her vision.</p>
<p>“Shh, you’re alright,” Hagrid said gently, “hey, you’re okay.”</p>
<p>Skyla looked around wildly in shock, seeing first the large face of Hagrid leaning over her, followed by a very familiar face to her other side. A man kneeling beside her clutching an empty potion vial. A man with black hair and a long crooked nose.</p>
<p>The face of the last man on earth that she ever wanted to see again.</p>
<p>“Hello Skyla,” Snape said quietly, “how do you feel?”</p>
<p>“No… no… you-”</p>
<p>“-saved your life,” Snape cut her off with a pointed look.</p>
<p>“And you think that means I shouldn’t-!”</p>
<p>“-wait to hear exactly what I have to say?” Snape replied carefully, “because it might be wise to stay your hand until you know what all of the cards in play are?”</p>
<p>“Severus, what are you going on about?” Remus asked.</p>
<p>“I don’t play with cards,” Skyla hissed in anger.</p>
<p>“No, you play with lives,” Snape said seriously, “and you play with dangerous magic. Magic that none know of, save for I. Magic that only I can help you understand and control.”</p>
<p>“You?” Skyla laughed humourlessly, “you think you know my magic?”</p>
<p>“Better than you think,” he replied calmly, “I watched you fight, you move like the Dark Lord. You think like the Dark Lord, and with the right training, you could be as powerful as the Dark Lord. I know more about him than any other, only I could help you attain such greatness.”</p>
<p>Skyla stared at him; her fuzzy mind was struggling to comprehend.</p>
<p>“Are you trying to say-”</p>
<p>“I can teach you,” Snape said quietly, “let me make up for… past inadequacies in my own practice. I can help you harness your power. Let me do this for you.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want you anywhere near me,” Skyla said flatly, “you’re finished.”</p>
<p>“Do not be a fool,” Snape hissed, “you are throwing away a very valuable resource. Use your brain, think about this.”</p>
<p>Skyla’s vision blurred once again as she struggled to process his words.</p>
<p>“Sleep on it,” Snape said with a serious look, “the Dark Lord WILL return again, and you will need to be much stronger than you are to fight him. You will not get so lucky next time, and next time, I might not be around to save you.”</p>
<p>“What are you talking about, Severus?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, where have ya’ been anyway? She coulda used a hand back there ya know-”</p>
<p>“I… I can’t…”</p>
<p>Skyla’s struggled to hang on, but eventually her vision blurred and faded to black once again as she collapsed onto the soft green grass below.</p>
<p>***************</p>
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